REGIONAL BRIEFS

-- Associated Press

Employee Raped in Hotel Room

A hotel employee was raped yesterday in Gaithersburg when she entered a room to clean it, Montgomery County police said.

Police said the assailant fled after the attack at the Holiday Inn Gaithersburg on Montgomery Village Avenue.

He was described as an African American man between the age of 20 and 25, who was 5-foot-6 and weighed 140 to 150 pounds. He reportedly wore dark pants, a blue and white sweater and a black skullcap, police said. They said he was unshaven.

-- Martin Weil

VIRGINIA

Investigation Clears Clinic

State mental health officials said Friday that a Fairfax County psychiatric clinic did not violate state rules or procedures in its role monitoring a woman who was briefly taken there for treatment and allegedly killed her boyfriend less than an hour after she left.

The Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse Services, which licenses and monitors clinics run by local mental health agencies, started investigating whether the clinic had violated any rules or procedures after the Oct. 26 incident. Clinics are responsible for following guidelines in emergency situations as part of their contract with the state.

Police took Fawn C. Scott to Woodburn Center for Community Mental Health in Annandale after she had an argument with her boyfriend. Police have said that she was left there by a Fairfax City police officer, and then about an hour later went to kill Dexter O. Richardson Sr., 50. Scott has been charged with murder. It is unclear under what conditions Scott left the clinic.

-- Chris L. Jenkins