Repeat Sex Offender Gets 3 Life Sentences

Man convicted of 11 felonies in three states

A man repeatedly convicted of sex offenses over the years was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences following his latest conviction.

A jury found 58-year-old Ralph Choate of Baltimore guilty of first-degree rape and two counts of first-degree sex offense in March for a February 2011 attack. The victim hired Choate as a handyman to make repairs in the laundry room, prosecutors said. After showing him to the laundry room, she went to the kitchen, and Choate followed. He propositioned her and, when she ordered him to leave, he grabbed her and forced her to have sex with him while he held a screwdriver to her throat, prosecutors said.

Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy said he first prosecuted Choate in 1987, when McCarthy was an assistant state’s attorney.

“Twenty-five years later he is still preying on women in our community,” McCarthy said. “He has proven that he will be a threat to our community for as long as he lives, and we hope this sentence ensures that he spends the rest of his life in prison.”

Choate has been convicted of 11 felonies in three states – Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. Nine of the convictions are related to four rapes and one attempted rape, prosecutors said.

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