BELTSVILLE, Md. -- A 38-year-old Beltsville, Maryland man has been charged with inappropriately touching a teenager at a child care center and making inappropriate sexual conversation with the victim when he drove her home, Montgomery County Police said.
Investigators learned on July 20 that Thomas Henry Ridges offered to drive the then 14-year-old victim home from the Horizon Child Care facility in Silver Spring, Maryland. The victim accepted the ride. She is now 16.
Police said Ridges did not drive toward the victim’s home. He began to ask the victim if she remembered a time when she was 14 years old and was at a local pool as a camper at Horizon’s summer camp program.
According to the police, Ridges told the victim that he had touched her in a private area and that it was on purpose. The victim thought he touched her on accident.
As Ridge continued driving, he tried to engage the victim in sexual conversation and asked inappropriate questions about her sexual encounters and if she drank alcohol as he pulled up to a liquor store. Police said he also asked her to send him naked photos.
Ridges propositioned the victim to engage in sexual acts with him during the car ride.
He was arrested on September 14 and charged with two counts of sexual abuse of a minor and a fourth-degree sexual offense related to his inappropriate touching of the juvenile female and his inappropriate sexual conversation with and proposition of the victim. He has since been released on bond.
At the time of these offenses, Ridges was also a Montgomery County Public Schools paraeducator and a coach for Springbrook High School Boys Junior Varsity Basketball team.
Detectives are requesting that parents of juveniles who attend Horizon Child Care, Inc. or who have had contact with Ridges to talk to their children about possible interactions with Ridges and contact SVID detectives at 240-773-5400 if they believe their child was victimized.
