Hanover Township man charged with sexually assaulting woman

WILKES-BARRE — Evidence recovered during a rape examination resulted in the arrest of a lifetime registered sexual offender accused of sexually assaulting a woman in a parking lot at South Main and Wood streets.

Shawn Darnell Terry, 54, of Strand Street, Hanover Township, was arraigned Wednesday afternoon by District Judge Thomas F. Malloy Sr. in Wilkes-Barre on two counts each of rape and indecent assault and a single count of simple assault. He was jailed without bail at the Luzerne County Correctional Facility as Malloy deemed him a threat to the community and a flight risk.

Wilkes-Barre police arrested Terry after evidence recovered during the woman’s rape examination at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre matched the DNA profile of Terry, according to court records.

According to the criminal complaint:

A detective initiated an investigation on Dec. 31 when the woman reported she was sexually assaulted in a parking lot at South Main and Wood streets earlier that morning.

She claimed she was out with friends and ended up at a tavern at North Main and Jackson streets where she consumed alcoholic drinks. After two liquor shots, she began to lose her memory and did not remember leaving or walking away from the tavern.

Sometime later, a man began walking with the woman on South Main Street where he punched her in the face and sexually assaulted her in the parking lot, the complaint says.

The detective obtained video footage from several surveillance cameras that recorded the woman walking north on North Main Street at 1:49 a.m., then south toward Public Square stopping in front of a pizzeria at 2:04 a.m., then walks alone heading south on South Main Street.

Video footage shows the woman walking past Wilkes University at about 2:12 a.m., and is recorded walking with a man at 4:31 a.m. in the area of 809 S. Main St.

Evidence recovered during the woman’s examination at the medical facility were analyzed by the state police Forensic DNA Laboratory that identified Terry, the complaint says.

When a detective questioned Terry, he voluntarily provided a DNA sample, which matched the DNA evidence recovered during the woman’s examination, according to the complaint.

Court records say Terry in 2004 sexually assaulted a woman who passed out after a night of drinking inside a Cherry Street, Plymouth, residence. Terry was sentenced in 2005 to 7-1/2 to 15 years in state prison and is subject to lifetime registration under the state’s Sex Offender and Registration Notification Act.