WASHINGTON - Tavon Barber, 19, of Washington, D.C., was found guilty by a jury today of charges stemming from a pair of home invasions he committed within a roughly 20-hour period in Northeast Washington, including one in which he sexually assaulted a woman, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.
Barber was found guilty following a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia of a total of 21 counts, including first-degree burglary, first-degree burglary while armed, assault with intent to commit first-degree sexual abuse while armed, three counts of third-degree sexual abuse while armed, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and related offenses. The Honorable Russell F. Canan scheduled sentencing for Feb. 5, 2015.
According to the government’s evidence at trial, on June 4, 2013, between 9 a.m. and 11 a.m., Barber broke into a home in the 1100 block of 6th Street NE through an unlocked kitchen window. At the time, two people were inside the house asleep. Once inside, Barber stole two laptops, a book bag full of stuff and car keys. He then used the car keys to steal the car, which belonged to one of the residents.
Approximately 20 hours later, at approximately 4:30 a.m., Barber and an accomplice broke into a home in the 2400 block of Second Street NE, armed with a loaded.40-caliber, semi-automatic pistol. Wearing something to conceal their faces, they went upstairs to the bedroom where the owners of the home, a husband and wife, were sleeping.
Barber turned on the lights and woke the homeowners from sleep. He demanded money, and told them to put their heads under their pillows. Barber then sexually assaulted the wife, while holding the husband hostage at gunpoint. As Barber sexually assaulted the wife, the husband lunged at him, enabling his wife to escape. Barber and the husband struggled from the second floor, down the stairs to the back of the house. Once there, Barber fired a shot at the husband’s head and then fled, with his accomplice, out the back of the house.
Barber was arrested on June 29, 2013 and has been in custody ever since. The second man earlier pled guilty to charges in the case.
In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Machen commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). He also expressed appreciation for the work of those who handled the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Michael Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation; Paralegal Specialists Jason Manuel and Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie; Victim/Witness Advocate Veronica Vaughan; Victim/Witness Security Specialists Katina Adams-Washington, David Foster, and Wanda Queen, and Litigation Technology Specialist Thomas R. Royal. Finally, he commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sharon Donovan and Lindsay Suttenberg, who investigated and prosecuted the case.
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Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
