Crimes Took Place in 2013 and 2014 at Northwest Washington School
WASHINGTON - Charles Young, 35, of Washington D.C., pled guilty today to sexually abusing seven different male students at Dunbar Senior High School, announced U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips and Cathy L. Lanier, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). The abuse occurred between January 2013 and May 2014, during which time the defendant worked at Dunbar as a business manager and assistant track coach.
Young pled guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to seven felony counts of sexual abuse, including first-degree child sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances, attempted first-degree sexual abuse of a minor, and multiple counts of attempted second-degree sexual abuse of a minor. Each of the seven counts concerns a different victim. Upon release, Young will be required to register as a sexual offender for the remainder of his life. The Honorable Robert E. Morin has scheduled a sentencing hearing to take place on April 22, 2016.
According to the government’s evidence, from 2012 to 2014, Young was employed as Dunbar’s business manager and was responsible for managing the school’s finances. Although he did not teach any classes, he served as a senior class advisor, designed and distributed Dunbar school apparel, volunteered as an assistant boys’ track coach, and held other responsibilities that regularly put him in contact with students.
Between January 2013 and May 2014, Young sexually abused seven male students, all between the ages of 14 and 17 years old. All the incidents occurred on the Dunbar campus, which is located in the 100 block of N Street NW. In one incident that occurred in the fall of 2013, a 15-year-old came to Young’s office to borrow a shirt to wear at basketball practice. Young led the boy into a closet next to his office that contained Dunbar apparel, closed the door, and eventually began performing oral sex on the student. In another incident that occurred in February or March 2013, a 17-year-old came to Young’s office to pay school fees. Once alone with the student, Young had him lift his shirt and pull down his pants and underwear purportedly so that he could show the student, who was an athlete, muscle groups he needed to strengthen. Young had the student pull down his pants and underwear, began touching the student’s penis with his hand, and pressed his mouth to the student’s penis.
On multiple occasions, Young used his position as a track coach to sexually abuse his juvenile victims. In one incident in November 2013, Young brought a 16-year-old to an empty bathroom after track practice, purportedly to provide him some additional one-on-one coaching. Inside the bathroom, he began touching the student on his stomach, pointing out muscle groups the defendant claimed needed work. Young gradually began lowering the student’s shorts before grabbing the boy’s penis and attempting to pull it out of his pants. In a separate incident that occurred in January or February of 2014, Young called a 14-year-old to his office to try on the new track team uniforms. After the student disrobed, Young began touching the student’s abdomen, pointing out exercises he could do to deepen his abdominal muscles. Young began touching the student near his groin and began pulling the student’s underwear down, exposing his penis. He then touched the boy’s penis with his hand.
The defendant would also voice concerns about student hygiene as a ploy to sexually abuse them. On multiple occasions, Young, while alone with a male student, would claim that the student smelled bad, apply hand sanitizer or lotion to his hand, and begin rubbing the boy’s abdomen, claiming that he was getting rid of the smell. Young would then attempt to reach into the boy’s pants and touch his penis.
The abuse came to light in November 2014 when one of the students reported to Dunbar administrators that the defendant had sexually abused him. That student’s disclosure triggered an investigation that ultimately uncovered seven different students whom Young had sexually abused over the span of just three school semesters. Young has been in custody since his arrest in November 2014.
In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Phillips and Chief Lanier commended the work performed by detectives from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Youth and Family Services Division. They also recognized the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Tracey Hawkins, Victim/Witness Services Coordinator Katina Adams-Washington, Litigation Technical Specialist Jeanie Latimore-Brown, Paralegal Specialist D’Yvonne Key, Criminal Investigators John Marsh and Mark Fitzgerald, former Legal Interns Stephanie Dinan and Emma MacArthur, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Chrisellen Kolb and Sarah McClellan. Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Jodi Lazarus, who conducted much of the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jason Park and Julianne Johnston, who are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
