LOS ANGELES : Escapee Rapes Female Inmate at Courts Building

A woman prisoner was allegedly raped by a 20-year-old male prisoner who escaped from a holding cell in the Downtown Criminal Courts building as he awaited a court hearing on murder and robbery charges, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department spokesman said Thursday.

Shermain Brewster freed himself from his cell on the 10th floor about noon Wednesday, went down a hallway and entered the woman’s cell where he “attacked her physically and sexually,” said Sgt. Richard Dinsmoor.

The woman, whose name was not released, was taken to County-USC Medical Center where she underwent a rape examination and was treated for abrasions, then returned to jail, Dinsmoor said.

Dinsmoor said investigators are trying to determine how Brewster got out of his cell and into the woman’s cell, as well as other details. “There’s a major investigation going on,” he said.

The woman was alone in her cell at the time of the incident, and investigators are awaiting lab results that will confirm if she was raped. “But we’re treating this as a rape,” Dinsmoor said, adding that Brewster will face additional charges of rape and assault in connection with the incident.

Dinsmoor said he did not have information on what happened after the attack, the age of the woman or what charges she was being held on. He also didn’t know details of why Brewster was jailed, or how long he had been held.