Defendant Was a Convicted Sex Offender at Time of Offense
WASHINGTON - Craig Allen Lee, 44, formerly of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to an 18-year prison term for sexually assaulting a teenage girl at an apartment in Southeast Washington, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.
Lee, a convicted sex offender, was found guilty in February 2016 of attempted first-degree child sexual abuse, with aggravating circumstances. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Robert E. Morin. Upon completion of his prison term, Lee will be placed on supervised release for the rest of his life. He also must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
According to the government’s evidence, the attack took place Sept. 18, 2011, at an apartment that the girl was visiting in Southeast Washington. Sometime in the middle of the night, Lee crept into the bedroom where the victim was sleeping. The victim woke to find Lee rubbing her buttocks as she was on her stomach. He then pulled down her sweat pants and underwear and sexually assaulted her. Two days later, the victim told a counselor and her mother. They called the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). The girl was taken to Children’s National Medical Center. A thigh swab showed DNA consistent with the defendant’s.
Lee was arrested in 2012 and has been in custody ever since. He was convicted in 1997 of second-degree rape of a 12-year-old girl in Prince George’s County, Md.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Marshals Service. He also expressed appreciation for the work performed by Children’s National Medical Center and the assistance that was provided by the District of Columbia Department of Forensic Sciences and Bode Technologies.
U.S. Attorney Phillips acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists D’Yvonne Key, Troy Griffith, and Benjamin Kagan-Guthrie; Litigation Technology Supervisor Joshua Ellen; Information Technology Specialists Anisha Bhatia, Aneela Bhatia, William Henderson, and Thomas R. Royal; Investigative Analysts William Hamann, Sharon Johnson, Shannon Alexis, and Zachary McMenamin; Victim/Witness Services Coordinator David Foster; Victim/Witness Advocate Lezlie Richardson; Michael Ambrosino, Special Counsel for DNA and Forensic Evidence Litigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Bates, Sharon Donovan, and Chrisellen Kolb. Finally, he commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys Peter V. Taylor and Kara Traster, who investigated the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Taylor and Sarah McClellan, who prosecuted the matter.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
