Skip to main content
Press Release

District Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison For Robbing and Assaulting Elderly Couple As They Were Walking in Northwest Washington

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Columbia
Victim Were Attacked in Broad Daylight; One Fought Back With Her Cane

            WASHINGTON – Milton Hood, 52, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 14 years in prison on charges of robbing and assaulting a senior citizen couple in Northwest Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Peter Newsham, Acting Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

 

            Hood was found guilty by a jury in January 2017 of one count of robbery of a senior citizen, and one count of assault with intent to commit robbery of a senior citizen. The verdict followed a two-week trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Kimberley S. Knowles. Upon completion of his prison term, Hood will be placed on three years of supervised release.

 

            According to the government’s evidence at trial, at about 11:15 a.m. on May 29, 2015, a 75-year-old woman and her 81-year-old husband were walking south on 23rd Street NW, between Q and P Streets. Hood attacked the husband, knocking him to the ground, and forcibly removed his wallet from his back pocket. The female victim, afraid for her husband’s life, began striking Hood with her cane, hitting him repeatedly on the head and neck. Hood turned on her, striking back and knocking her head to the ground. Hood tried to grab her purse, but the female victim, bleeding from her head and her knees, did not let go. People in two cars driving by stopped to help the victims, and the defendant ran off. Based on descriptions provided by the victims and eyewitnesses, Hood was spotted by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) two hours later wearing the exact same clothing as he was at the time of the attack. The victim’s cane was swabbed for DNA, and subsequent testing revealed the presence of Hood’s DNA on it.

 

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Acting Chief Newsham commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also expressed appreciation for the assistance provided by the Forensic Science Laboratory and Crime Scene Sciences Division of the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences, as well as Bode Cellmark Forensics.

 

            They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Michael Ambrosino,  Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation; Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Donovan, Michael Spence, Chrisellen Kolb, and Stephen Rickard ; Paralegal Specialists Crystal Waddy, Stephanie Siegerist, Stephanie Gilbert, Donville Drummond, Lynda Randolph, Debra McPherson, and Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie; Litigation Technology Specialists Claudia Gutierrez, Jeanie Latimore-Brown, and Paul Howell, and Jennifer Clark, Katina Adams-Washington and LaJune Thames, of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gilead Light, Michael Romano, and Allessandra Stewart, who investigated and prosecuted the case.

Updated April 28, 2017

Press Release Number: 17-090