District Man Sentenced To 23-Year Prison Term After Pleading Guilty To Charges In Two Sexual Assaults-DNA Later Tied Him To The Crimes, Including One Committed A Decade Ago-

     WASHINGTON – Anthony Lamont Burns, 39, of Washington, D.C., has pled guilty to charges stemming from two sexual assaults that he committed years ago, including one attack against a 14-year-old girl, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced today.

     Burns pled guilty on April 26, 2013, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to charges of first-degree child sexual abuse and attempted first-degree sexual abuse. The plea, which was contingent upon the Court’s approval, called for a sentence of 23 years in prison. The Honorable Robert E. Morin approved the plea and sentenced Burns immediately. Following completion of his prison term, Burns will be placed on five years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

     According to the government’s evidence, the teenage victim was walking in the 4300 block of Iowa Avenue NW at about 10 p.m. on Jan. 26, 2003 when an unknown man grabbed her by the neck and placed a knife to her chest. The assailant told the girl that if she yelled, he would stab her in the heart.  The man forced the girl into his vehicle and then made her perform numerous sexual acts against her will.  When he finished, he drove the teenager back to where he had abducted her and allowed her to exit his car and leave.  She immediately ran home and reported the assault to her family.  Her family, in turn, immediately notified the police.

     The girl had never seen Burns before the assault and had no idea who attacked her.  However, the assailant’s semen was found on the girl’s underwear, and subsequent DNA analysis, developed after Burns was convicted in 2010 of a separate felony, tied him to the crime.

     DNA evidence also linked Burns to a second attack, which took place in 2006. On April 29, 2006, at about 5:45 a.m., a woman was walking in the 6400 block of Georgia Avenue NW when a stranger approached her, brandished a knife and demanded money.  The woman told the man she had no money.  The man then forced her to the rear of a building in the 5400 block of Georgia Avenue, where he made her lay down in a bed of mulch and raped her.  When he finished, the man ordered the victim to walk toward Georgia Avenue NW.  She complied, then ran to a gas station and reported that she had just been raped by a stranger at knifepoint.  As in the case of the 14-year old girl, semen that was recovered from the victim was shown, through subsequent DNA analysis, to belong to Anthony Burns.

     In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Machen praised the work of those who investigated the cases for the Metropolitan Police Department, especially the members of MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit and Youth Division. He also commended the efforts of those who worked on the matter from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Jason Manuel, Victim/Witness Advocate Lezlie Richardson, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Marcus-Kurn and Peter V. Taylor, who investigated and prosecuted this case.