Teen Says He Was Kidnapped From Metro Station, Sexually Assaulted

A D.C. man sexually assaulted a teenage boy he abducted from a Red Line Metro station earlier this week, according to police.

The victim told police he was sexually assaulted in a bathroom at the Chevy Chase Pavilion, a popular mall in the Friendship Heights area.

According to a charging document, Dominick Simons, 25, began talking to the victim as the two walked into the Bethesda Metro station shortly before 3 p.m. Monday.

Simons allegedly asked if he could borrow the victim's phone. The victim gave it to him, but Simons started walking away, the document said.

When the victim protested, Simons told him he had a gun and threatened to shoot him, according to the document. He then opened his jacket and brandished what appeared to be the butt of a handgun.

Simons then ordered the victim onto the next southbound train, the document said. They took the Red Line to Friendship Heights, where Simons then ordered the victim into the mall and told him to take him to a bathroom, according to the document.

Simons sexually assaulted the victim inside a stall in a third-floor bathroom at the mall, the document said.

Simons eventually told the victim he could leave when the victim threatened to scream, the document said. The victim then left and and boarded another Metro train.

Police said the victim didn't initially report he had been sexually assaulted, because "he felt ashamed and embarrassed," according to the document, and at first just said he had been robbed and assaulted.

Simons was arrested later Monday at the Gallery Place Metro station, because he matched the suspect description in another robbery at the Van Ness Metro station. The juvenile victim identified Simons as the suspect who had robbed him.

Simons didn't really have a gun but admitted saying he did, according to police.

On Tuesday, Metro Transit police received an anonymous call from a friend of the victim, who told them the victim had confided in her that he was also sexually assaulted during the incident Monday. Police re-interviewed the victim, who admitted he hadn't told police he was sexually assaulted, because he was ashamed. He then told police about the sex assault, according to the document.

Police said they verified the victim's timeline after reviewing surveillance video.

Simons is charged with first-degree sexual abuse, armed robbery and kidnapping.

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