A D.C. man has been arrested and charged with a series of violent crimes in Montgomery County. Carlos St. James Hover, 34, is accused of a rape at a gas station on Thursday evening, followed by an armed bank robbery on Friday morning. According to Montgomery County Police, Hover now faces multiple charges, including first-degree rape, first-degree assault, and armed robbery.
Montgomery County detectives, who are part of the Special Victims Investigations Division - Sex Assault Unit and Major Crimes Division – Robbery Section, pieced together the events that led to Hover’s arrest. The investigation began when officers responded to a report of a rape at a Rockville gas station around 7:05 p.m. last Thursday. The suspect assaulted and sexually attacked the store’s lone employee before fleeing. The crime was particularly heinous due to the violence exhibited at the scene. The suspect left behind a pattern of distinctive clothing and traveled away in a Mazda SUV.
Following the rape incident, a separate crime was reported the subsequent day, last Friday at 9:23 a.m., when Hover allegedly robbed the Capital One Bank located on the 11200 block of Georgia Avenue. Patrol officers swiftly executed Hover’s arrest as he attempted the bank heist. "Robbery detectives realized that Hover matched the description of the suspect from the previous night's sexual assault," the Montgomery County Department of Police reported. Hover was immediately taken into custody without incident.
Further connecting Hover to the sexual assault, detectives noted that he was wearing similar distinctive clothing to the individual caught on the gas station’s surveillance footage. Moreover, the Mazda SUV he used for transportation to the bank robbery was the same vehicle described in the sexual assault incident. Hover was subsequently charged and is currently being held without bond following his transport to the Central Processing Unit.
