Defendant Encountered Victim on Street at 13th and U Streets NW
WASHINGTON - Elias Hailu, 37, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 18 months in prison for sexually abusing a stranger on the street in broad daylight last fall in the 14th Street corridor of Northwest Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu.
Hailu pled guilty in March 2018, in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, to attempted third-degree sexual abuse. He was sentenced by the Honorable Judith Bartnoff. Following his prison term, he must register for 10 years as a sex offender. He also will be placed on three years of supervised release.
According to the government’s evidence, Hailu encountered the victim on the afternoon of Nov. 15, 2017, as she was walking on U Street toward 13th Street NW. He began to follow the victim, who was a stranger to him, for several blocks while she proceeded to work. All the while, Hailu made sexually explicit proposals to the victim and ignored her repeated requests that he leave her alone. Hailu sexually abused the victim by forcefully grabbing the victim’s breast with his hand. The victim made an immediate report to law enforcement.
Surveillance footage that captured a portion of Hailu’s conduct showed Hailu’s distinctive clothing, some of which he had been wearing the day before in the same area. Based on the description provided by the victim and the surveillance footage, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) was able to identify Hailu as the perpetrator. He was arrested on Nov. 17, 2017, wearing some of the same clothing he had worn during the sexual assault.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu praised the work of officers from the Metropolitan Police Department’s Sexual Assault Unit. She also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Victim/Witness Advocate Tracy Owusu, Paralegal Specialist Donhue Troy Griffith, and Criminal Investigator John Marsh. Finally, U.S. Attorney Liu commended Assistant U.S. Attorneys J. Matt Williams and Marisa West, who investigated and prosecuted this case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
