Stranded Air Force Major Woke Up While Being Sexually Assaulted At Charlotte Marriott—Says Security Told Him To Shower Before Police Arrived

A Marriott Titanium member says he woke up in his hotel bed to a stranger performing oral sex on him. He fought the man off, called the front desk, and says hotel security then told him to take a shower before police arrived — to reduce his risk of contracting HIV. Wait, wut. I covered the guest’s $160 million lawsuit in March 2024. The attacker has since pleaded guilty. A former employee has also alleged that she tried to get help removing the intruder that night, then was fired because the hotel was worried she’d testify. They thought dismissing her would make her a less credible witness against them. Okey dokey. Charlotte Marriott City Center. Credit: Marriott. The guest was an Air Force major with more than 20 years of military service. He was traveling from Mississippi to Orlando for mandatory training when canceled flights stranded him in Charlotte on April 7, 2022. The Air Force excused him from the training and allowed him to go home. He was trying to make it back for a father-daughter dance at his church. The flight he was standing by for was canceled just before boarding, too. So he booked the Charlotte Marriott City Center. According to the original lawsuit, he chose the hotel because of his loyalty to Marriott and his trust that they’d keep him safe in an unfamiliar city. Bonvoy! He went to bed. His lawsuit says the room’s self-closing, self-locking door wasn’t working properly. It didn’t latch shut or lock. During the early hours of April 8, he says he woke to the man he’d never met before sexually assaulting him. He “howled in terror,” punched the guy and threw him off. The man fled with the major’s wallet, a shirt and a pair of pants. A guest room at Charlotte Marriott City Center The door allegedly had electronic sensors. These transmitted a record of whether it was open or closed. The lawsuit argues Marriott should have known both that the door was malfunctioning and that the room had been unsecured for hours. The intruder allegedly came through the parking garage. He wasn’t a guest and didn’t have a key card, but supposedly made it up several floors without anyone questioning or stopping him. The defendants allegedly knew he was there that night. The complaint says they knew Peay had trespassed before the assault but failed to notify police. It also alleges he’d previously trespassed to burglarize or assault guests. After Doe reported what happened, a front-desk employee allegedly told him, “we know who he is.” Police allegedly spotted the defective door immediately. According to the complaint, responding officers recognized that it wouldn’t properly latch. After the assault, the lawsuit says a hotel security officer: advised John Doe to take a shower to mitigate the risk of contracting a disease such as AIDS-HIV. Police arrived after he’d showered. Washing after sexual exposure doesn’t prevent HIV, and showering can remove evidence. Hotel reception, credit: Marriott The complaint cites 85 police responses to calls at the property between July 2017 and July 2022, including 29 involving theft or trespass and 15 involving assaults, including sexual assaults. In September 2024, a former hotel employee sued saying she sought help removing the intruder that night, but management and security weren’t available. She says she was fired the same day the guest’s lawsuit became public, in part to discredit her as a potential witness. At the beginning of last year, the perpetrator pled guilty to first-degree burglary and sexual battery and was sentenced to 38–58 months in prison and ordered to register as a sex offender for 30 years. The lawsuit against the hotel continues: The claim is negligent security, deceptive advertising of self-closing and self-locking doors, and violation of the city’s requirement for operable locks. The man’s wife also sued over the damage to their marital relationship. $160 million is a demand for $40 million in compensatory damages and $120 million in punitive damages. I’ve written many times to double lock your hotel room door. Even triple lock it. Make sure it has actually closed, use the deadbolt, and engage the separate security latch or chain. I’ve covered a Marriott where a man obtained a key to a coworker’s room simply by asking the front desk. On Monday October 19, the court dismissed the parking management company from the case with an apparent settlement. You think you’re safe in your room at a chain hotel, but a Hilton employee walked in on a guest getting out of the shower with a fake story about a fire alarm, a guest at Hilton’s Doubletree Los Angeles – Norwalk woke up to find a hotel employee standing at the foot of her bed, and a manager at the Hilton Nashville Downtown was arrested for breaking into a room and sucking on a guest’s toes. (HT: Arthur) Topics on this page