Maryland Man Sentenced to 6 ½-Year Prison Term For Sexually Assaulting Boy Who Was in His Care

            WASHINGTON – A 28-year-old man, from Laurel, Md., was sentenced today to a 6 ½-prison term for sexually abusing a young boy whose mother entrusted him to his care, U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu announced.

            The defendant, who is not identified here to protect the privacy of the victim, pled guilty in April 2018, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to a charge of second-degree child sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances. The plea, which was subject to the Court’s approval, called for a prison term of five to seven years. The Honorable Craig Iscoe accepted the plea today and sentenced the defendant accordingly. Upon completion of his prison term, the man will be placed on five years of supervised release. He also will be required to register as a sex offender for a period of 10 years.

            According to the government’s evidence, the defendant was residing with the boy and the boy’s mother at an apartment in Southeast Washington at the time of the incidents in the District of Columbia, which took place between late October 2014 and late December 2015. At the time, the boy was four or five years old. The defendant was a significant caregiver to the boy during this time period because the mother worked one or two jobs or was attending school.

            According to the evidence, the man rubbed his penis between the boy’s buttocks while the mother was out of the house. The victim disclosed the abuse in the summer of 2017, and an investigation led to the man’s arrest. He has been in custody since August 2017.

            The victim also disclosed that the defendant’s abuse continued when the family moved to Prince George’s County, Md. Following the defendant’s sentencing by Judge Iscoe, the man pled guilty to a charge of sex abuse of a minor in that jurisdiction. He was sentenced to a concurrent sentence to the sentence imposed today in the District of Columbia.

            In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu commended those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Youth and Family Services Division (MPD). She also expressed appreciation for the work of the Children’s Advocacy Center and Children’s National Medical Center. Finally, she acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Veronica A. Vaughan, Forensic Interviewer Tracy Owusu, Paralegal Specialist T.J. McPhail, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Stuart D. Allen, who investigated and prosecuted the case.