Maryland Man Indicted for Interstate Kidnapping and Sexual Assault of a 13-year-old Girl

           A 21-year-old man, of Oxon Hill, Maryland was charged in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in a seven-count indictment on Friday. The announcement was made by Jessie K. Liu, United States Attorney for the District of Columbia, Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and Charles A. Dayoub, Acting Special Agent in Charge, Criminal Division, FBI Washington Field Office.

           On June 28, 2019, a seven-count indictment was returned by a federal grand jury charging the man with two counts of kidnaping, four counts of sexual abuse, and violation of a protection order. The charges carry a mandatory-minimum sentence of 20 years imprisonment, a maximum sentence of life imprisonment, and lifetime sex offender registration. The defendant has not been named because this is an intra-family offense against a minor victim.

           In 2017, the defendant inappropriately touched the victim’s breasts and tried to further sexually assault her. As a result, a protection order was signed by a Maryland judge.  At that time, the defendant was a special police officer and had recently applied for a position as an armed police officer. That application was rejected because of the pending protection order.  On December 18, 2018, the defendant waited for the then 13-year-old victim to return from school, and abducted her from Maryland. The defendant forced the victim into his car, handcuffed her, and drove into D.C. to an abandoned home. The defendant forcibly raped the victim. The defendant released the victim three hours later, and the victim immediately reported the attack to family members.  Forensic testing revealed that the defendant’s DNA was on the victim.  A search warrant executed on the defendant’s vehicle recovered the handcuffs and other items.

           U.S. Attorney Liu stated that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is deeply committed to the prosecution of those who commit sexual assaults in the District of Columbia, particularly those who commit such crimes against children. Liu commended the work of the entire team of individuals who assisted with the investigation including Marisa West, Jodi Lazarus, and Elana Suttenberg, AUSAs in the Office’s Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Section (SODV), Anthony Scarpelli, an AUSA in the Office’s Violent Crime and Narcotics Trafficking Section, Victim/Witness Program Specialist Yvonne Bryant, SODV Paralegals Tiffany Jones and Tiffany Fogel, and Forensic Child Interviewer Tracy Owusu.

           Finally, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of the MPD’s Youth and Family Services Division and the FBI’s Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force.