District Man Sentenced to 12 Years in Prison for Sexually Abusing Young Girl

WASHINGTON—Christopher Brown, 29, of the District of Columbia, was sentenced today by the Honorable Frederick H. Weisberg of the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to 12 years in prison and 20 years of supervised release in connection with his sexual abuse of the young daughter of his ex-girlfriend, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips. Brown will also be required to register as a sex offender for life. Brown entered a guilty plea to one count of First Degree Child Sexual Abuse on July 30, 2009.

During the prior plea hearing, Brown admitted to sexually abusing the child on one prior occasion, an incident to which the defendant had previously confessed when initially interviewed by police prior to his arrest. In fact, the government’s investigation in the case established that Brown sexually abused the young girl repeatedly over the course of several years, while she was between the ages of 6 and 8. The victim, now age 10, described how Brown sexually abused her repeatedly, virtually every day during that time period. On many occasions, Brown would wait for the rest of the family to fall asleep, after which he would take the child into the living room of the home and sexually abuse her. Following his arrest, when confronted with this evidence, Brown confessed to having sexually abused the young girl on multiple occasions. The government’s investigation also uncovered evidence that Brown possessed child pornography in his home. A search warrant executed by members of the Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI/MPD Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force recovered numerous hard-copy photographs and videotapes, as well as images stored on Brown’s computer, which depicted children in sexually explicit situations.

In announcing the sentence, Acting U.S. Attorney Phillips commended lead Metropolitan Police Department Investigator Damion Johnson, who did an exemplary job investigating the case and working with the victim and other witnesses. He also praised the outstanding assistance of Criminal Investigator John Marsh, who conducted computer forensic analysis in the case, as well as MPD Detective-Sergeant Morani Hines, Detectives Timothy Palchak, Jonathan Andrews and Miguel Miranda, Mobile Crime Officer Tina Ramadhan, and Investigators Janine Leftwich and Stephanie Garner. He also commended the work of Child Forensic Interviewer Karen Giannakoulias, Paralegal Jason Manuel, Legal Assistant Nicole Lee, and Victim/Witness Assistance Unit staff members Michael Hailey and Tanya Via. Finally, Mr. Phillips expressed his special appreciation to Victim/Witness Advocate Iris Vega, who worked closely with the victim and her family, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Last, who investigated and prosecuted the case.