LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — A 24-year-old Lancaster County man has been charged with multiple felonies and misdemeanors after DNA evidence showed he sexually assaulted an unconscious girl in her home in 2019, a State Police investigation determined.
Darnell Marcus Lathon, of Mountville, is charged with two felony counts of aggravated indecent assault, unlawful contact with a minor, and corruption of minors, along with several related misdemeanors, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by investigators.
Lathon told police he did not have any sexual contact with the girl on the night of Nov. 22, 2019, after a party that he and the girl had attended in Lancaster.
But a lab report from the State Police Forensic DNA Division showed that stains on the bed where the girl slept in her Conestoga Township home came from Lathon during sexual contact, the criminal complaint states.
According to police, the girl went to the party with friends, and was drunk when she returned home.
While the girl said she did not remember what happened after she left the party, she told police she woke the next morning to see Lathon leaving her room.
He allegedly left behind clothing and bedding, from which investigators later recovered his DNA.
The girl underwent a forensic examination at Lancaster General Hospital later that day, and the results determined a sexual assault had occurred, police say.
Police were then contacted to investigate.
Lathon, who was 21 years old at the time of the alleged sexual assault, knew the girl, had spent time in her home in the past, and knew how to get inside the house, the victim told police.
Police interviewed Lathon in August 2020 as part of their investigation, according to the complaint. He told investigators that the girl had texted him all day prior to the party, asking him to bring alcohol.
On the day after the party, he said, the girl texted him again and asked if he had been in her room. Lathon told police he had not been in her house that night, nor did he have any sexual contact with her. Instead, he claimed, he had been with a friend all night.
Police say Lathon provided a DNA sample during the interview, and the forensic lab determined it matched DNA taken from stains on the girl's bed sheets.
The lab tests determined the stains are one in 10 decillion times more likely to have originated from Lathon than from anyone else, according to the lab report, which was released on Jan. 13.
A decillion is 1 followed by 33 zeroes, the complaint said.
Lathon was taken into custody and arraigned before Judge Joshua Keller, who set bail at $50,000. He was remanded to Lancaster County Prison after failing to post bail.
Lathon is also facing charges of criminal trespass, DUI, stalking, and criminal mischief in York County, according to court records.
