Charles Henry Thompson Jr., 32, of Lexington Park, has been sentenced to 95 years and six months in prison, with all but 50 years and six months suspended, for a 2024 shooting, assault and robbery that also involved threatening his former girlfriend with a firearm, St. Mary’s County State’s Attorney Jaymi Sterling announced.
Thompson is the third and final defendant sentenced in a case that began on Oct. 30, 2024, when deputies with the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 22000 block of Valley Estates Drive in Lexington Park for a reported shooting. Investigators determined Thompson and a co-defendant drove to a home where Thompson’s former girlfriend and a male companion were visiting; once there, Thompson shot, assaulted and robbed the man, and displayed the firearm in a threatening manner toward his former girlfriend. The victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was airlifted to a Baltimore trauma center, and spent two weeks in intensive care with lasting nerve damage, according to the Chronicle’s prior reporting on a co-defendant’s sentencing.
Sterling said the attack’s impact extended well beyond the two people directly targeted.
“The Defendant brutally attacked a defenseless man unprovoked and mercilessly terrorized him and his ex-girlfriend, leaving them in utter fear for their lives,” Sterling said. “Domestic violence impacts more people than just those who are in the relationship; its effects extend to family members, friends, and others, creating a rippling effect throughout our community. There is no place in St. Mary’s County for such lawlessness.”
Following a five-day jury trial in December 2025, Thompson was convicted of two counts of first-degree assault, armed robbery, use of a firearm in the commission of a crime of violence, six additional firearm-related charges, theft and conspiracy to commit first-degree assault.
Thompson was the last of three men charged in the case to be sentenced. Co-defendant Mark Albert Fenwick Jr., who drove the getaway vehicle and helped restrain the victim during the robbery, was convicted of attempted first-degree murder, first-degree assault, armed robbery and theft, and was sentenced in November 2025 to life in prison with 40 years without parole. A third man, Jarrell Raheim Johnson, was charged as an accessory after the fact. Thompson himself was not arrested until January 2025, when deputies and the U.S. Marshals Service located him in South Carolina.
Senior Assistant State’s Attorneys Donna Pettersen and Lisa Ridge prosecuted the case on behalf of the citizens of St. Mary’s County. Detective Kortnie Marsch of the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office was the lead investigator. Circuit Court Judge Amy Lorenzini presided over the case.
