District Man Sentenced to 39 Months in Prison
For Sexually Abusing Teenage Girl

     WASHINGTON - Chris Seville Thomas, 20, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to a 39-month prison term after earlier pleading guilty to a charge of attempted first degree child sexual abuse, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

     Thomas was sentenced on November 8, 2011 by the Honorable Lynn Leibovitz, of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He pled guilty in September 2011. Upon completion of his prison term, Thomas will be placed on three years of supervised release. In addition, he was ordered to register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years.

     At the plea hearing, Thomas admitted that on November 6, 2010, he encountered the victim, a 13-year-old girl, while she was walking on a street in Northeast Washington. He asked whether she would braid his hair, and when she agreed, he took her into his home and had sexual intercourse with her. While Thomas initially denied having any physical contact with the girl, DNA testing revealed that he was the source of DNA samples taken from the girl’s body shortly after the assault.

     In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen commended Metropolitan Police Department Detective Darryn Robinson. He also recognized the dedicated work of U.S. Attorney’s Office Victim Advocates Tracey Hawkins and Veronica Vaughan, Paralegal Lamine Hendrix, and Legal Assistant Etta Ford. Lastly, he commended Assistant U.S. Attorney Heide L. Herrmann, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

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