Md. Man Charged With Raping Daughter

A man who was convicted last month of abusing one of his four daughters and who had been charged with abuse against the other three was indicted yesterday by a Montgomery County grand jury on two charges of rape, two of incest and two of unnatural and perverted sexual practice involving one of the daughters.

Those charges replace an earlier charge of child abuse brought by the eldest daughter, now 26. Prosecutors said they dropped the child-abuse charges in this case because the daughter alleges that her relationship with her father began in late 1971 and continued through August 1973, when Maryland child-abuse laws required proof of physical injury requiring medical treatment. Prosecutors said that evidence does not exist in the case.

State child-abuse statutes were amended in 1974 to drop the requirement for proof of injury requiring treatment.

The 51-year-old Gaithersburg man, whose name is not being used in this story because it is the same as some of his daughters, was arrested Jan. 4 as the result of an investigation that began after his three natural daughters and their mother went to police last November. Besides the charges filed yesterday, he also is charged with abusing another natural daughter and an adopted daughter.

Thomas L. Heeney, the man's defense attorney, said the man intends to plead innocent in the three remaining cases. Md. Man Charged With Raping Daughter

A man who was convicted last month of abusing one of his four daughters and who had been charged with abuse against the other three was indicted yesterday by a Montgomery County grand jury on two charges of rape, two of incest and two of unnatural and perverted sexual practice involving one of the daughters.

Those charges replace an earlier charge of child abuse brought by the eldest daughter, now 26. Prosecutors said they dropped the child-abuse charges in this case because the daughter alleges that her relationship with her father began in late 1971 and continued through August 1973, when Maryland child-abuse laws required proof of physical injury requiring medical treatment. Prosecutors said that evidence does not exist in the case.

State child-abuse statutes were amended in 1974 to drop the requirement for proof of injury requiring treatment.

The 51-year-old Gaithersburg man, whose name is not being used in this story because it is the same as some of his daughters, was arrested Jan. 4 as the result of an investigation that began after his three natural daughters and their mother went to police last November. Besides the charges filed yesterday, he also is charged with abusing another natural daughter and an adopted daughter.

Thomas L. Heeney, the man's defense attorney, said the man intends to plead innocent in the three remaining cases.