Comings & Goings

A D.C. Superior Court judge on April 6 sentenced Bryant Webster, 38, of Suitland, Md., to 39 years in prison just under three years after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting three men in their nearby Capitol Hill apartments in 2016 after entering the apartments through what authorities said were unlocked doors.

“During a 50-day period between August 12 and October 1, 2016, the defendant raped three adult men within blocks of each other,” according to a 27-page sentencing memorandum submitted by prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney urging Superior Court Judge Marisa Demeo to hand down the full sentence of 39 years requested by prosecutors.

The memorandum says Webster committed “multiple acts of elaborately planned, stealth, home invasion rapes” against the three male victims, who he observed and stalked before committing the sexual assaults.

Among other things, the memorandum says Webster somehow found out about the victims’ careers and college backgrounds and knew their names and the name and address of one of their girlfriends. And in at least one case, he entered and looked over the victim’s apartment and stole some of his personal checks before coming back a week or so later to rape him, according to the lengthy memo.

None of the numerous court documents related to the case states whether Webster self-identifies as gay or whether he was involved in any LGBTQ organizations or activities in the D.C. area, where he has lived his entire life.

Thomas Key, who served as Webster’s attorney at the time of the sentencing, did not respond to a request from the Blade for comment on the case.   

In court charging documents, prosecutors said there were no signs of a forced entry into any of the apartments that Webster entered and committed the alleged sexual assaults. The charging documents say the victims told police and prosecutors they most likely left their doors unlocked.

The charging documents say Webster forced two of the three victims into submitting to his sexual assault by threatening them with a handgun and after he bound their hands and feet with black duct tape that he pulled out of a backpack he had with him.

He sexually assaulted the third victim, identified in charging documents as P.H., while P.H. was asleep and possibly unconscious on a sofa in the apartment he shared with one of the other two victims, identified as L.K. As he had in the other incident, Webster somehow entered the apartment of P.H. and L.K. on different occasions without breaking in, the charging documents say.

Police later analyzed video that Webster took with his phone, which police obtained at the time of his arrest, showing him performing oral sex on the unconscious P.H.

“Additional images captured the defendant taking a ‘selfie’ with the defendant’s mouth on P.H.’s penis, the defendant wearing pink gloves manipulating P.H.’s genitals, and the defendant’s penis next to P.H.’s face,” the U.S. Attorney’s sentencing memorandum states. “These images were taken all while P.H. remained asleep or otherwise unconscious,” the memo says.

The charging documents and sentencing memo describe in detail how Webster’s sexual assault of L.K., the last of the three men he’s charged with sexually assaulting, led to his arrest. The documents say Webster entered the apartment where L.K., P.H. and two other roommates lived just after midnight on Oct. 1, 2016, through an apparent unlocked door.

At gunpoint, he ordered L.K. into L.K.’s bedroom, ordered him to take off his clothes, ordered him onto his bed, and bound his hands and feet with duct tape, the charging documents continue. He then removed his own pants and underpants and proceeded to rape L.K., the charging documents say. As the sexual assault continued, both L.K. and Webster heard someone enter the apartment, prompting Webster to lock the bedroom door.

Knowing the person who entered the apartment was one of his roommates, L.K. waited for Webster to let down his guard, the charging documents say. When he saw that Webster put his gun down on the bed, L.K. managed to break free of the duct tape on his hands, grabbed the gun, and screamed for his roommate to help him as he and Webster struggled for the gun. According to the charging documents and the sentencing memo, the roommate forced open the locked bedroom door and helped L.K. subdue Webster, allowing L.K. to take the gun, run out of the bedroom and call police, who arrived minutes later and arrested Webster.

He has been held in jail without bond in the five years and six months since the time of his Oct. 1, 2016, arrest, and the time of his sentencing earlier this month on April 6.   

In July 2019, two years and nine months after his arrest, Webster pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual abuse while armed and one count of second-degree sexual abuse as part of a plea bargain agreement offered by prosecutors. The plea, which was dependent upon the judge’s approval, called for a sentence of between 32 and 39 years.

Court records show that the sentencing date, which was initially set for September 19, 2019, was postponed repeatedly after Webster, through his attorneys, filed two separate motions to rescind his guilty plea and go to trial. Those motions were denied by the judge, but they and other motions filed by the defense challenging evidence presented by police and prosecutors along with COVID-related delays of court proceedings resulted in the sentencing being delayed two-and-a-half years until April 6 of this year.

The sentencing memorandum says police and prosecutors have obtained evidence through videos and photos on Webster’s phone that he committed sexual assaults on other men while gaining access to their homes, none of whom have been identified. The memo says Webster also allegedly sexually assaulted one of his cellmates at the D.C. jail.

According to the sentencing memo, Webster led a double, “fraudulent” life, appearing to his family and friends as a highly respected upstanding citizen.

“He graduated from college with a degree in psychology,” the memo says. “He worked regularly focusing on jobs where he interacted with people who had trouble faring for themselves like homeless men and special education students,” it says. “He also had a history of working for various hotels and was involved in his church as a minister,” the memo continues.

“However, behind that veneer is an extremely dangerous, sadistic, armed serial rapist,” the memo to the judge concludes. “He stalks people, invades their homes, steals their possessions, and inflicts inconceivable horrors on their body…The danger he poses to the public is multiplied by the fact that he parades as a law abiding, rational, and even kind individual.”

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