A former D.C. police officer was sentenced to three years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman in Rock Creek Park after pulling over her vehicle on a routine traffic stop.
D.C. Superior Court JudgeNeal E. Kravitz on Thursday sentenced former officer Juan Leon to a year more than what the sentencing guidelines recommend. After prison, he will have to register as a sex offender.
In June, Leon pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault of a ward.
Leon admitted that at about 3:45 a.m. on Oct. 30, 2005, while driving in his Metropolitan Police-marked cruiser, he passed a woman driving the opposite way in the 900 block of Kennedy Street Northwest.
Leon pulled a U-turn, hit his emergency lights and stopped the woman’s car on Georgia Avenue. He told the woman that he could not clearly see the expiration date on the rear license plate of her car.
When the woman told Leon that she didn’t have a driver’s license or registration, he told her that he’d have to arrest her and told her to follow his vehicle so they could talk.
Leon drove to a dark, secluded parking area in a picnic area on Ross Drive in Rock Creek Park. While in full uniform and with his service pistol, he got into the passenger side of the woman’s car and told her to perform an oral sex act.
The woman complied but repeatedly told Leon that she did not want to perform the sex act and asked why he did not give her a ticket, according to court documents.
The woman later complained to police authorities. After an investigation, Leon was indicted.
