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By
Tory Lysik [former]
- December 17, 2021
Court
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Daily Stories
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Sex Abuse
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Sexual Assault
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Suspects
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Victims
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A defendant pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree sex abuse. This is the second time he has done so in ten years.
On March 25, 2006, the victim was staying at a friend’s house to babysit her child, according to court documents. At 2:30 a.m. she heard a knock on the door and opened it. She saw the defendant, Christopher Grooms, standing there and recognized him from seeing him before with the friend. The victim told him the friend was not home.
Grooms told the victim he was not looking for the friend. He pushed her, forcing her into the child’s bedroom and onto a bunk bed. He held her at gunpoint, stating “if you say anything, I’ll empty this clip in you.”
Grooms proceeded to rape her and “did not use a condom,” according to court documents.
The victim received a rape kit, during which DNA evidence was collected. In 2020, forensic services were able to match Grooms to the rape through DNA he had previously given in a separate incident. In that case, he pleaded guilty in 2012 to the same charge and was sentenced to 51 months.
This charge comes with a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. He will be required to register as a lifetime sex offender. Parties agreed that as part of his plea, Groom would serve eight to twelve years in prison.
DC Superior Court Judge Dayna Dayson sentenced Grooms to be sentenced in February.