District Man Sentenced to 14 Years in Prison for Sexually Abusing Teenage Sons

            WASHINGTON – A 37-year-old man, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 14 years in prison for sexually abusing his children, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.

            The man, who is not identified here to protect the privacy of the victims, pled guilty in August 2018, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to charges of first-degree child sexual abuse, first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, and second-degree cruelty to children. The plea, which was contingent upon the Court’s approval, called for an agreed-upon 14-year prison term. The Honorable Danya A. Dayson accepted the plea and sentenced the defendant accordingly. Following his prison term, the man will be required to register for the rest of his life as a sex offender and must also complete a term of 15 years of supervised release.

            According to the government’s evidence, on April 14, 2018, the defendant, who had subjected his three biological sons and one stepson to repeated physical abuse over many years, forced his two oldest sons, who were then 14 and 16 years old, to smoke a marijuana cigarette laced with an unknown powdered substance. After the victims consumed the drugs, the defendant performed sexual acts on each of them. The defendant then forced the victims into a bedroom, instructed them to move a dresser to block the door, and performed additional sexual acts on the victims simultaneously. The victims reported the sexual abuse to their two younger brothers the next day, and one of the younger brothers reported the abuse to a social worker a few days later.

            The defendant, who was on pretrial release in an unrelated case alleging misdemeanor sexual abuse against an adult victim occurring just one week earlier, was arrested on April 20, 2018, and has been in custody ever since.

            The day before the sexual abuse, the defendant had strangled his 11-year-old stepson by putting his hands around the victim’s throat until the victim could not breathe and his face turned red.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu praised the work of officers from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Youth Investigation Division. She also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Lezlie Richardson and Criminal Investigator John Marsh. Finally, U.S. Attorney Liu commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Katie Kern and Jennifer Loeb, who investigated and prosecuted the case.