Ministry Leader Accused of Raping Woman
Fort Washington Church Suspends Member Over Charges in Fairfax City
By Tom Jackman and Hamil R. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, March 8, 2006; Page B03
A ministry leader at one of Prince George's County's largest churches has been charged in Fairfax City with raping and beating a woman in a hotel parking lot in January, and this week he was suspended from his church duties.
The Rev. Eugene A. Marriott Jr., 41, of Clinton was the "minister of men" at the 10,000-member Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, one of the largest AME churches in the country. Marriott was arrested Jan. 14 and spent four days in the Fairfax County jail before a $20,000 bond was set. The church placed him on administrative leave with pay.
But after learning details of the attack on the woman from a reporter, the church on Monday suspended all of Marriott's rights and privileges within the church. It would not discuss whether he was still being paid.
Marriott said he could not comment, on the advice of his attorney, Bobby Stafford of Alexandria. Stafford said, "I never discuss a pending legal case."
According to Fairfax County court records, Marriott and the woman, 34, left the Taj Bar and Grill at the Best Western Hotel on Chain Bridge Road shortly before midnight Jan. 14 and walked to Marriott's Saab sedan. The woman told police that once inside the car, Marriott became angry, began to hit her, forced her to perform oral sex, dragged her out of the car and raped her on the car.
Marriott then threw the woman to the ground, beat her and raped her again, according to search warrant affidavits by Fairfax City Detective Edward Vaughn.
The woman said Marriott then tried to force oral sex again when police officers arrived and arrested Marriott, about 12:20 a.m. The woman suffered numerous cuts, scrapes, bruises and "marks that appear to have been caused by a belt," Vaughn observed, and "was stunned by the attack and emotionally distraught."
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