Aberdeen Man Pleads Guilty to 1st Degree Rape of Women at Knifepoint

From the Office of the State’s Attorney for Harford County:

On Monday, October 23, 2023, Tavon Isaiah Harvey, 29, of Aberdeen, Maryland pled guilty in three separate cases before the Honorable Kevin J. Mahoney. Harvey pled guilty in the most serious case to one count of First Degree Rape. In the other two cases, Harvey pled guilty to one count of an Inmate Causing Contact with Bodily Fluid and entered into an admission to violating probation for a prior conviction for Second Degree Assault (the equivalent of a guilty plea for a Violation of Probation proceeding).

Facts presented to the court in support of the guilty plea on the charge of First Degree Rape revealed that on December 30, 2022, the victim reported a rape to the Aberdeen Police Department. Officer Haddix assumed the investigation which revealed Harvey vaginally and anally penetrated the victim over the course of two hours between midnight and 2 A.M. that same date. The victim identified Harvey via an MVA photograph and further reported seeing Harvey watching her walk into the police precinct that morning wearing the same clothes, a distinctive red sweatsuit.

The rape occurred inside an abandoned building at 18 N. Law Street in Aberdeen. Harvey held the victim at knifepoint during the rape and also strangled her. The victim was able to escape when another individual entered the abandoned house, distracting Harvey. Harvey was Mirandized and gave several conflicting versions of events, to include that he had not seen the victim and only knew her in passing. A Sexual Assault Forensic Exam (“SAFE”) was conducted, evidencing injuries and bruising consistent with the victim’s recitation of events. DNA evidence was also collected during the SAFE exam, which confirmed Harvey’s identity as the assailant.

In Harvey’s second case, evidence showed that on April 8, 2023, while being held at the Harford County Detention Center awaiting trial, Harvey used empty bottles from his shower items to collect fecal matter, which he then sprayed over the bars and walls of the day room during shift change. Responding deputies and correctional officers were forced to decontaminate the area.

Harvey remains held without bond at the Harford County Detention Center while awaiting sentencing which is currently scheduled for January 25, 2024. Pursuant to the plea agreement in the First Degree Rape case, the State will be arguing for a sentence of Life suspend all but eighty-five (85) years of active incarceration to serve.

At the conclusion of the proceedings, State’s Attorney Alison M. Healey offered the following comment:

“Harford County has no place for violent criminal offenders like Tavon Harvey. The egregious acts that were perpetrated upon his victim in the rape case were nothing short of horrific. It is my sincere hope that the First Degree Rape conviction will give the victim some relief that justice was served as she closes this chapter and begins to heal. Mr. Harvey’s blatant disregard for others as demonstrated in all three of these cases sends a clear message that he should be removed from our community for as much of the remainder of his life as possible, if not all of it, so he cannot continue to harm the citizens of our community. Our office continues to repeatedly send the message that we will not tolerate criminal behavior in Harford County.”

Ms. Healey continued on to express her gratitude to Deputy State’s Attorney Trenna Manners for her hard work in securing this plea agreements in these cases, for her advocacy on behalf of the victims, and for ensuring that another violent criminal is removed from the streets of Harford County. She also thanks Officer Haddix and the Aberdeen Police Department for their diligence in the investigation of the rape case and the correctional staff at the Harford County Detention Center for their efforts in the Bodily Fluids case and in housing Harvey while awaiting trial.