District Man Pleads Guilty to Sexually Assaulting Girl

            WASHINGTON – Davon Rashad Wood, 26, of Washington, D.C., pled guilty today to a charge of second-degree child sexual abuse for groping a 12-year old girl as she was walking into a community aquatic center, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu. 

            Wood pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and is to be sentenced Dec. 12, 2017 by the Honorable José M. López.  Following his prison term, Wood will be placed on a period of supervised release.  He will must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. 

            According to the government’s evidence, on June 26, 2017, at about 10:45 a.m., the victim was walking into the William H. Rumsey Aquatic Center in the 600 block of North Carolina Avenue SE. Wood held the door for the girl as she entered the aquatic center, then grabbed her buttocks as she walked past him.  His actions were captured on the aquatic center’s security cameras.  The girl did not know Wood. The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) provided clips from security footage to the local media in hopes of getting the public’s assistance. Several people then called MPD to identify the man as Wood. Wood was arrested at his home in Southeast Washington on July 2, 2017.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu praised detectives from MPD’s Youth Division, the aquatic center employees who provided MPD with footage from the center’s security cameras, and members of the public, who helped identify Wood as the perpetrator. She   also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialist Brenda C. Williams and Victim/Witness Advocate Juanita Harris.  Finally, she commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter V. Taylor, who investigated and prosecuted this case.