Defendant Forced Victim Off the Street and Into Woods
WASHINGTON - Kevin Thompson, 28, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 30 years in prison for forcing and abducting a woman off a street in Southwest Washington and sexually assaulting her, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips announced.
Thompson was found guilty by a jury in May 2017 of first-degree sexual abuse, third-degree sexual abuse, and kidnapping. The verdict followed a trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. He was sentenced by the Honorable Hiram E. Puig-Lugo. Following his prison term, Thompson will be placed on supervised release for the rest of his life.
According to the government’s evidence, on Aug. 22, 2016, at approximately 11 p.m., the victim had just left work and was walking in the area of the 4800 block of 1st Street SW when Thompson walked up to her. Thompson, a stranger, approached and asked if she remembered him. She told him “no" and to leave her alone. She pulled out her phone in an attempt to deter him, but Thompson kept following her.
As the woman continued down the street, Thompson grabbed her by the shirt and hair and dragged her into a wooded area and, ultimately, to the bottom of a trash-filled ditch. She repeatedly screamed, but, unfortunately, no one could hear her. Thompson then forcibly sexually assaulted her. As she testified at trial, as Thompson inflicted one assault after another on her, she thought that it was her “last day on earth." But in a moment when Thompson was distracted, she ran away and made it to safety. The victim called 911. Officers with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) quickly located Thompson in the area and arrested him. He has been in custody ever since.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Phillips commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. He acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Chrisellen Kolb, Deputy Chief of the Appellate Division; Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Aziz; Paralegal Specialists Michelle Wicker, Angelina Slagle and T.J. McPhail; Litigation Technology Specialist Anisha Bhatia, and Victim/Witness Advocates Tracy Owusu and Tracey Hawkins. Finally, he commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Danny Nguyen, who investigated and indicted the case, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Julianne Johnston and Kathleen “Katie" Kern, who investigated the case and prosecuted it at trial.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
