A Baltimore County volunteer firefighter faces felony and misdemeanor charges after being accused of groping a colleague and watching her shower

By Luke Parker
Baltimore Sun

BALTIMORE COUNTY, Md. — A Howard County firefighter who also volunteers in Baltimore County was indicted Monday over accusations that he groped a colleague at a Randallstown station before watching her take a shower.

The firefighter, Xavier Dove, denied the allegations in court last month and was released on his own recognizance. Initially arrested on four charges, he now faces an attempted rape felony, as well as several sex offense and assault misdemeanors, court records show.

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According to Dove’s family and his defense attorney, Stephen Tully, the defendant and his accuser had been in a relationship for months before the reported May 2 incident at the Liberty Road Volunteer Fire Company station.

“There’s a past history between the parties that is not reflected in the allegations,” Tully told The Baltimore Sun on Tuesday.

Police said Dove, 27, a full-time firefighter in Howard County who volunteers in Randallstown, slipped into a colleague’s bed and began touching her. Although she did not report being penetrated, the colleague told authorities that she had to swat Dove’s hand away “several times,” according to charging documents.

When the woman was taking a shower later that morning, she allegedly saw Dove “staring at her while she was naked” through clear curtains, police said. According to charging documents, another volunteer at the station witnessed the incident.

Dove was also indicted Monday on indecent exposure, Peeping Tom and private place prurient intent — a charge applied when someone allegedly observes or records someone in a private place for sexual gratification.

When Dove was released last month, about 10 of his family members cheered, hugged and thanked the judge.

One of them, Dove’s great-aunt, told reporters after the hearing that lovers should not tarnish their former partner’s name.

“Right is right. Wrong is wrong,” she said. “You don’t do that to people.”

Dove was placed on leave from the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services after his arrest, department chief Louis Winston said in a statement.

Bernard Jones, chief of the Liberty Road Volunteer Fire Company, said that Dove was removed from all operations and barred from access to the department and its privileges.

As of Tuesday, Dove’s next court date had not been scheduled.

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