Greenwood man arrested on numerous sex abuse, assault charges

GREENWOOD, Del. – A Greenwood man has been arrested on numerous counts of sexual abuse and assault stemming from an investigation that began earlier this week.

Monday afternoon, an 18-year-old woman responded to Delaware State Police Troop 5 to report that she had been threatened by a man, identified as 52-year-old Darren Gingerich, the previous day. It was learned that Gingerich had been at an event with the victim when he forced her to leave early, at which point he allegedly took the victim’s cell phone and drove her to an isolated location. The victim tried to get out of the car, but Gingerich reportedly pointed a handgun at her and threatened to kill her. Gingerich eventually drove the victim back to her home, at which point she left and reported the incident.

While the victim was at Troop 5, troopers were called to Gingerich’s home on Hunters Cove Road in Greenwood for a reported house fire. Firefighters extinguished the flames, and State Fire Marshals determined that Gingerich had intentionally set his home on fire. EMS personnel took Gingerich to the hospital for medical treatment. A search warrant was executed on the home the following day, the same day Gingerich was released from the hospital. Troopers found several firearms inside the home.

Gingerich was charged with possession of a deadly weapon during the commission of a felony, second degree kidnapping, aggravated menacing, terroristic threatening, and malicious interference with emergency communications. He was also charged with second degree arson by the Delaware Office of the State Fire Marshal and held at SCI on a $97,200 cash bond.

Detectives continued to investigate Gingerich’s past interactions with the victim, discovering that he had sexually and physically abused the victim repeatedly since she was 8 years old. As a result, he was additionally charged with three counts of second degree rape, second degree attempted rape, continuous sex abuse of a child, four counts of first degree unlawful sexual contact, providing obscenity material to a juvenile, two counts of second degree unlawful sexual contact, and second degree sexual abuse of a child by a person of trust.

Gingerich was arraigned on these charges and remains at SCI on an additional $361,000 cash bond.