District Man Sentenced to 23 Years in Prison on Federal and D.C. Sexual Offenses and Other Charges

            WASHINGTON – Donnell Pollard, 27, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 23 years in prison on a series of sexual assault and other felony offenses stemming from an April 2017 crime spree following his escape from a halfway house in which he was serving time for a another sexual offense, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Pollard pled guilty on June 12, 2018, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to one federal offense, the commission of a crime of violence while failing to register as a sex offender, and five D.C. Superior Court offenses, including kidnapping while armed and third degree sexual abuse while armed. He was sentenced by the Honorable James E. Boasberg. Following release, he will be placed on supervised release for life.  He will also be required to register as a sex offender for life. 

            According to the Government’s evidence, in 2012 Pollard pled guilty in D.C. Superior Court to Assault with Intent to Commit First Degree Sexual Abuse and was sentenced to a term of incarceration. In addition, as a result of his conviction, Pollard was required to register a sex offender for life. On or about July 8, 2016, the defendant was residing at a halfway house in Baltimore, Maryland as part of his sentence, when he escaped that facility. Pollard then moved to D.C. He failed to update his sex offender registration information with his new residence and, in fact, did not register at all until the time of his arrest in April 2017. In April 2017, while the defendant was in violation of his sex offender registration requirements, he committed five offenses against a total of five victims, including sexually assaulting two victims and kidnapping and stabbing another.

            In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu commended the work of the members of the U.S. Marshals Service, MPD Criminal Investigations Division, Special Investigations Branch Sexual Assault Unit, and MPD Sixth District. She acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Assistant U.S. Attorneys Andrea Hertzfeld, Nicholas Miranda, and Marisa West; Paralegal Specialists Tiffany Jones and Leah Welch; and Victim/Witness Advocates Lezlie Richardson and Yvonne Bryant.