WASHINGTON - A 55-year-old District of Columbia, Robert F. Taylor, has been found guilty of First Degree Burglary while Armed, Armed Robbery of a Senior Citizen, Armed Robbery, Aggravated Assault while Armed and related weapons offenses, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today. The charges stem from the early morning burglary of a home located in the 1200 block of Decatur Street, NW, Washington, D.C. and the subsequent assault of a senior citizen within the home.

Taylor, of the 1400 W Street, NW, Washington, D.C., was found guilty of the charges yesterday, December 15, 2008, by a Superior Court jury. The trial was presided over by the Honorable Robert I. Richter, who will sentence the defendant on February 10, 2009.

According to evidence presented at trial, on January 25, 2005, at approximately 6:00 a.m., the defendant, dressed in a full body suit and ski mask, applied duct tape to the rear door windowpane of the complainants' home located in PSA 403. He then broke the glass and entered the first floor area of the house. The defendant went up to the second-floor bedroom of 59-year-old female resident, brandishing a large, silver revolver resembling a cowboy pistol, and butcher knife. He threatened to kill her if she did not give him money. She gave the defendant $35 before he went to the adjoining bedroom where the woman's 78-year-old sister was sleeping. There he demanded money and credit cards. When the sleeping victim did not respond quickly enough, the defendant struck her on the side of her head with the pistol causing her to suffer a fractured skull and various lacerations to her face. After taking approximately an additional $30 and a Home Depot credit card, the defendant fled from the house.

Four days later, the defendant went to the home of a former girlfriend in the 1200 block of Randolph Street, NE, and demanded that she hide the distinctive looking pistol used in the burglary. When the former girlfriend refused to do so, the defendant hid the gun in the basement and left. The former girlfriend contacted the Metropolitan Police Department resulting in officers responding to her house to search for the weapon. The gun was recovered from beneath a sofa cushion in the basement of the home. The 59-year-old victim subsequently identified the recovered weapon as resembling the gun used in the burglary. Also, two latent fingerprints were recovered from the duct tape applied on the complainants' rear door windowpane. A comparison of the latent prints to the defendant's known prints produced a match. The defendant was arrested in February of 2005 on a Superior Court of the District of Columbia warrant.

In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the efforts of the following members of the Metropolitan Police Department: Detectives Wayne Torres and Pedro Lopez, Officers Michael Cashman, David Murray, Grant Greenwalt, Michael Penkert, Carmen Pagan, and Kemper Agee and Fingerprint Examination Specialist Diane Glover. Finally, Mr. Taylor recognized the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney George A. Pace, Jr., who is prosecuting the case.