District Man Pleads Guilty to Accosting Teenage Girl at Museum

            WASHINGTON – Devone Foote, 35, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a felony charge stemming from an incident last spring in which he sexually accosted a 14-year-old girl who was on a school trip at a museum, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.

            Foote pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to a charge of attempted second-degree child sexual abuse. The charge carries a statutory maximum of five years in prison. The plea, which is contingent upon the Court’s approval, calls for an agreed-upon sentence of 18 months in prison. Following his prison term, Foote would be required to register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years. The Honorable Judith Bartnoff scheduled sentencing for Sept. 15, 2017.

            Foote was arrested on April 4, 2017 after he allegedly touched seven girls, ages 13 and 14, on the buttocks, while they were visiting the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. He has been in custody ever since. The guilty plea involved one of those offenses.

            According to a proffer of facts submitted at the plea hearing, on April 4, 2017, at approximately 5 p.m., a volunteer at the insect exhibit noticed Foote leering at a group of teenage girls from a few feet away. Foote approached the group and took several pictures. He then touched a 14-year-old girl on the buttocks with his hand and held her hair. He then walked away. He was identified shortly afterward outside the museum and arrested. In his guilty plea, Foote admitted that he acted voluntarily and on purpose, and not by mistake or accident.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Smithsonian Institution Office of Protection Services and from the U.S. Park Police. He acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Tracey Hawkins, Paralegal Specialist D’Yvonne Key, and Criminal Investigator John Marsh. Finally, he commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Elana Suttenberg, who investigated and prosecuted the case.