DC man sentenced for raping pregnant woman while children sleeping in the room

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and the Metropolitan Police Department announced that a D.C. man had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for raping a pregnant lady at gunpoint in the same room as a sleeping 4-year-old kid.

Christopher Grooms, 36, pled guilty in December 2021 to attempted first-degree sexual abuse while armed in connection with a 2006 house invasion sexual assault in Southeast D.C.

According to the government’s evidence, Grooms knocked on the door of an acquaintance in the 1300 block of Morris Road SE around 2:30 a.m. on March 25, 2006. The victim, who was seven months pregnant at the time, was babysitting for a friend and was staying at the flat.

Grooms was recognized by the victim, who answered the door. Grooms barged in, grabbed her by the hair, and brandished a gun.

He dragged the victim into a back bedroom where a four-year-old boy slept on a bunk bed. He shoved the victim down to the bottom bunk. Grooms raped the victim while threatening to kill her with a gun.

Grooms snatched a cell phone and fled after the sexual assault. The victim immediately reported the incident to authorities and sought medical attention to safeguard the baby’s and her own health. On the same day, she was also subjected to a sexual assault examination.

When the rape kit was examined in 2007, it produced a DNA combination that included both the victim and a male contributor. Advances in DNA technology resulted in a match between the male DNA profile from the rape kit and the defendant’s DNA profile in 2020.

Later, a confirming DNA sample was received from the defendant, resulting in a very strong statistic of the defendant’s inclusion in the DNA mixture.

In September 2021, Grooms was charged with first-degree sexual abuse while armed, with aggravating circumstances, and has been kept in custody since.

Grooms was convicted of attempted first-degree sexual abuse in 2012 for a sexual assault on a separate victim in 2008.

His jail sentence for the 2006 crime will be followed by ten years of supervised release. Grooms will also have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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