A Maryland man was indicted for kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, the United States Attorney's Office said in a press release Wednesday.
A federal grand jury returned the seven-count indictment on June 28, after the Oxon Hill man was charged in the United States District Court for Washington, D.C. The indictment includes two counts of kidnapping, four counts of sexual abuse and violation of a protection order.
A Maryland judge signed a protection order for the then-13-year-old victim in 2017, after the man inappropriately groped and tried to further sexually assault her, the press release said.
When the incident occurred, the man was a special police officer, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. He had also recently applied to be an armed police officer, though his application was rejected due to the then-pending protection order.
On December 18, 2018, the defendant waited for the victim to return from school, forced her into his car, handcuffed her and abducted her from Maryland to an abandoned home in D.C. where he then sexually assaulted her, according to the attorney’s office.
He released the victim three hours later. The victim then immediately reported the assault to family members, the Attorney’s Office said.
Forensic testing found the man's DNA on the victim, and a search performed on the man’s car revealed handcuffs and other evidence, the press release stated.
Local
Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
The man’s name has not been revealed because the case is an intra-family offense against the victim, who is a minor.
The indictment brought against the man carries a mandatory-minimum sentence of 20 years in prison with a maximum of a life sentence. The charges also carry lifetime sex offender registration.
While it is unclear from the press release if the defendant was a special police officer in D.C. or Maryland, the News4 I-Team previously investigated how the Metropolitan Police Department has failed to follow up on complaints and lawsuits against special police officers for years.
