SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. — Police in Cumberland County say a 14-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the restroom of a Shippensburg Sheetz store by a man who was employed there last year.
Demarcus S. Johnson, 22, of Shippensburg, has been charged with multiple counts of rape, statutory sexual assault, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and other offenses related to the alleged incident, which police say took place on Oct. 30, 2022, at a Sheetz store located on the 300 block of East King Street in Shippensburg.
According to Shippensburg Police, the investigation began around 9 p.m. on Oct. 30, 2022, when officers were dispatched to the store for a report that a girl was found passed out and vomiting in the restroom.
The girl was found awake and was talking when police arrived, but was unable to answer any questions. She could not remember her birthday, where she lived, or the name of her mother, according to charging documents.
Investigators were able to find contact information for the girl's mother in her phone, left a message, and took the girl to a hospital for treatment, according to the criminal complaint affidavit.
The 14-year-old victim later told her sister that she had been sexually assaulted in the restroom where she had been found, police said. She told police she had been drinking alcohol before walking to the store and claimed she felt like she was "waking up and falling back to sleep," the criminal complaint states.
The girl told police she walked into the bathroom and lost consciousness while in a stall. When she woke up, she told police, a man, later identified as Johnson, was forcing her into performing sex acts on him.
The girl told police that Johnson had been warned by the girl's older sister in the past to stay away from the girl due to her age, according to the complaint.
Investigators viewed the store's surveillance footage, which showed Johnson and the girl in a short conversation prior to the alleged sexual assault, according to the complaint.
After they finished talking, the girl is seen walking into the bathroom, while Johnson followed, police said in the complaint.
Johnson is then seen on surveillance footage entering and leaving the bathroom several times, but the girl did not emerge until EMS responders came to the scene and removed her, according to the complaint.
Johnson was charged last Thursday and released from Cumberland County Prison after posting $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to face a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Anthony Adams on March 15, according to court records.
