Peaceoholics Mentor Convicted of Sexually Assaulting 15-Year-Old
50-year-old man molested girl at Spingarn High
Friday, Sep 4, 2009 | Updated 7:00 PM EDT
A 50-year-old man faces 60 years in jail for molesting a girl at Spingarn High.
WASHINGTON -- A mentor with a local anti-crime and anti-violence organization was convicted in a D.C. Superior Court of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old student.
Barry Harrison, 50, of Oxon Hill, Md., faces up to 60 years in prison. He grabbed and molested a student from Spingarn High School in Northeast in April, prosecutors said.
On April 14, Harrison told the victim he needed to speak to her privately and took her to a basement stairwell without a surveillance camera where he grabbed her butt, pulled her close to him and forced her to touch his penis, prosecutors said. The girl immediately reported the incident.
Prior to the assault, Harrison had made sexually suggestive remarks to the victim and three other girls at Spingarn, prosecutors said.
Peaceoholics provides mentoring services to at-risk youth and is largely staffed by ex-offenders, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Harrison was on parole for murder.
