18-Year-Old District Man Sentenced to 18 Years in Prison for Kidnapping, First Degree Sexual Abuse, and Robbery

WASHINGTON—A Superior Court judge has sentenced an 18-year-old District man, Marcel Johnson, to 18 years of incarceration for abducting a woman off the street and then raping and robbing her in July of 2008, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced today.

The Honorable Frederick Weisberg imposed the sentence this afternoon. A Superior Court jury found Johnson guilty of kidnapping, first degree sexual abuse and robbery following a two-week trial in January of this year. In addition to his sentence, the defendant will be required upon his release from prison to register for life as a sex offender under District of Columbia law.

According to the government’s evidence at trial, on July 31, 2008, the defendant, who was 17 years old at the time of this offense and charged as an adult, and two other men were driving in a silver KIA Optima when they approached the 18-year-old victim, who was walking to a friend’s house. The defendant forced the victim into the car and the three men drove off. During a struggle in the backseat, the victim bit the defendant in the chest. The men drove the victim to an alley in the rear of the 200 block of Randolph Place, NE (PSA 501), where the defendant raped the victim. A used condom, recovered by police behind a house in the alley, contained DNA matching the defendant’s DNA profile.

After raping the victim, the defendant stole her cellular phone and the three men fled in the same silver KIA that was used to kidnap the victim. The car was recovered a week later near Saratoga Avenue and 14th Street, NE. Fibers from the car matched fibers on the victim’s skirt. At the time of his arrest, the defendant had what appeared to be a healing bite mark on his chest.

In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Taylor praised the outstanding work of the lead Detective Ingrid Harkins, of the Metropolitan Police Department, who was supported by a team of dedicated individuals from numerous law enforcement agencies. The U.S. Attorney acknowledged the hard work of the following additional personnel from the Metropolitan Police Department: Detectives Wallace Carmichael, Randal Parker, Randy Brooks, Todd Amis, Anthony Commodore and Leon Epps; Sergeants Kevin Rice and George Gray; Officer Georgette Littlejohn; Evidence Technicians Richard Steven Griffin, Ronald Royster, Dwayne Mitchell, Natasha Pettus and Valerie Campbell; Fingerprint Examiner Willie Higginbothem; Trace Evidence Examiner Harold Deadman; Evidence Operations Supervisor Douglas Deedrick; and Krystyna Hopkinson of the MPD Crime Lab. The U.S. Attorney also recognized the outstanding collaboration of other Federal and local law enforcement partners, including: Deputy U.S. Marshals Richard Kelly, Roger Wilson, Martin Flynn, Jay Ciambrone, William Straw, Stephen Marks, Justin Engen and Stephen Barros and Inspectors Christopher Street, Brian Sheppard and Andrew Smith of the U.S. Marshals Service; Deputy Alex Maldonado of the Prince George’s County Sheriff’s Office; DNA Examiner Nicole Nicklow of the Federal Bureau of Investigation; EMT/Firefighters Ericeka Dixon and Whitney Ward of the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department; Tammie Creamer of the District of Columbia Office of Unified Communications; and Investigator Durand Odom of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. In addition, the U.S. Attorney acknowledged the support of Victim Advocates Iris Vega and Tracey Hawkins; Victim Service Coordinators La June Thames and Katina Adams; Paralegal Specialists Cynthia Muhammad, Kristy Kropfelder and Eugena Johnson; Legal Assistants Donice Adams, Tiffany Jones and Charmonique Price; Criminal Intelligence Specialist Sharon Johnson; and the entire Litigation Technology Support Unit. Finally, the U.S. Attorney commended the hard work and dedication of Assistant U.S. Attorneys David M. Rubenstein and Michelle Zamarin, who prosecuted the case.