Matthew M. Graves U.S. Attorney | U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
Samuel Peaks, a 36-year-old resident of Washington, D.C., has been convicted by a jury in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The conviction is for first-degree sexual abuse while armed with aggravating circumstances related to an incident on February 12, 2013. The assault occurred in the 4400 block of Gault Place, NE. This was announced by U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.
Peaks is scheduled for sentencing on May 2, 2025, before Superior Court Judge Neal Kravitz. He faces a potential maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The trial evidence showed that on February 12, 2013, at around 6:00 a.m., Peaks approached the victim at the Minnesota Ave. Metro station and attempted to engage her in conversation. After she rejected his advances and walked away, he followed her, brandished a firearm, and forced her to put a condom on him and perform a sexual act. Afterward, he discarded the condom on the ground. The victim promptly reported the incident to police officers who responded and retrieved the condom.
In 2013, DNA testing was conducted on the condom which revealed a mixture of DNA from both the victim and an unidentified male. The case remained unsolved until Peaks' arrest for attempted homicide in Maryland in 2020 led to his DNA being collected under Maryland’s DNA upon arrest law and entered into CODIS.
The defendant's DNA matched the male profile obtained from the condom during initial testing in 2013.
The investigation was carried out by both the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Assistant United States Attorney Amy Zubrensky investigated this case while Assistant United States Attorneys Sarah Folse and Raha Mokhtari prosecuted it as part of their work within the Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Section.
