District of Columbia
Man sentenced to 39 years for 3 D.C. ‘home invasion’ rapes
Prosecutors say suspect ‘elaborately planned’ sexual assaults in Capitol Hill
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.”
District of Columbia
Billy Porter, Keke Palmer, Ava Max to perform at Capital Pride
Concert to be held at annual festival on June 9
The Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced this week the lineup of performers for the Sunday, June 9, Capital Pride Concert to be held during the Capital Pride Festival on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. near the U.S. Capitol.
Among the performers will be nationally acclaimed singers and recording artists Billy Porter and Keke Palmer, who will also serve as grand marshals for the Capital Pride Parade set to take place one day earlier on Saturday, June 8.
The Capital Price announcement says the other lead performers will be Ava Max, Sapphira Cristal, and the pop female trio Exposé.
“The beloved pop icons will captivate audiences with upbeat performances coupled with their fierce advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights, echoing the vibrant spirit of this year’s theme, ‘Totally Radical,’” according to a statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
“With Billy Porter and Keke Palmer leading the parade as Grand Marshals, we’re not only honoring their incredible contributions to the LGBTQ+ community but also amplifying their voices as fierce advocates for equality and acceptance,” Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said in the statement.
“The concert and festival serve as a platform to showcase the diverse array of LGBTQ+ talent, from the chart-topping hits of Ava Max to the iconic sounds of Exposé and the electrifying performances of Sapphira Cristal,” Bos said in the statement. “Capital Pride 2024 promises to be a celebration like no other.”
The concert will take place from 12-10 p.m. on the main stage and other stages across the four-block long festival site on Pennsylvania Avenue.
District of Columbia
200 turn out for ’Love Fest’ Drag Story Hour at Freddie’s
Performer reads stories to kids and parents as three protest outside
Between 200 and 250 people, including parents and their children, turned out on Saturday, May 4, for a “Love Fest” Drag Story Hour brunch hosted by the Arlington, Va., LGBTQ establishment Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant.
Local drag performer Tara Hoot, who read children’s stories and handed out coloring books to the kids attending the event, was joined by members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, which sang several songs before Hoot began reading from children’s books in keeping with the tradition of drag queens conducting Drag Story Hour events across the country.
The May 4 event at Freddie’s in the Crystal City section of Arlington took place four weeks after the start of a similar event hosted by Freddie’s was delayed by a bomb threat, forcing those who had arrived to exit through a rear door and wait in a parking lot as Arlington police conducted a search of the premises with a bomb sniffing dog. No trace of a bomb was found.
All the customers, including parents and their kids, were invited back inside and the show took place as planned.
No similar threat occurred at the May 4 event. But three male protesters assembled on the sidewalk next to the parking lot behind the Freddie’s building, with one of them shouting from a bullhorn passages from his Bible that he said indicated the Drag Story Hour event was an “abomination.”
The three protesters were outnumbered by nearly a dozen counter protesters who were members of the Rainbow Defense Coalition, an LGBTQ organization. They carried bright, rainbow-colored umbrellas while chanting messages of support for the Drag Story Hour event.
Freddie Lutz, Freddie’s Beach Bar owner, called the event a “smashing success” that brought an “outpouring of love from the community.” Lutz released a flier on social media promoting the Love Fest event shortly after the earlier event interrupted by the bomb threat as a showing of love “to stop the hate.”
“Join us for the next story time brunch dressed in your favorite rainbow/hippie outfit” and “carry your favorite homemade signs of support,” Lutz said in his promotional flier. He came to the event dressed in what he called his hippie protest outfit.
Lutz said while the protesters did not interrupt the event, he was concerned that their shouting was scaring some of the kids as they and their parents walked by the protesters to enter Freddie’s.
“I went out back and tried to talk to one of them and it was kind of like talking to a brick wall,” Lutz told the Washington Blade. “He was screaming at the parents that were crossing their kids on the crosswalk,” Lutz said. “And I said, you’re screaming at those kids, you’re scaring them.”
Lutz said the man told him he was yelling at the parents, not the kids. “And I said, no you’re not. The kids are hearing you. You’re scaring them.”
Added Lutz, “And to have such a fun-loving, happy show and then walk out on the sidewalk to that is very disheartening. It’s really sad. I told him my God is a forgiving and loving God.”
One of the protesters, who declined to disclose his name, said he and his two fellow protesters came to talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
“We want them to know this is an abomination to the Lord,” he told the Blade. “We want them to know those children don’t have a voice and they’re being brainwashed in there. We’re here to call out their sin.”
Stephanie Krenrich, who brought her two-year-old daughter to the event, said she strongly disputes the claims of the protesters.
“I brought my daughter here because I think that it was a beautiful and wonderful show, and it was great for her,” she said. “And I think it’s pretty offensive when people come to Arlington and tell parents what to do, especially for something so beautiful and so fun and so wholesome,” she told the Blade.
“So that’s why I brought her,” Krenrich said. “I think that it’s really important that we stand up for our values and people just being themselves, being happy and being them.”
Among those who attended the event were four elected officials from Arlington – Virginia State Sen. Barbara Favola, Virginia State Del. Adele McClure, Arlington County Board member Maureen Coffee, and Arlington and Falls Church State’s Attorney Parisa Dehgani-Tafti.
Also attending was Nick Benton, editor and publisher of the LGBTQ supportive Falls Church, Va., News Press; and Kellen McBeth, president of the LGBTQ group Equality Arlington.
“It was fantastic to see so many people come out to support Freddie’s, to support the LGBTQ+ community,” McBeth said. “It was a great event and we’re happy to be a part of it.”
District of Columbia
Another successful Taste of Point fundraiser
Scholars praise financial, networking support
The Point Foundation hosted its annual Taste of Point DC fundraising event on Thursday with nine participating restaurants, a drag performance, and a silent auction.
The event was hosted on the rooftop of the Room & Board on 14th Street, with an afterparty at Shakers. Point donors, scholars, and alumni circled the rooftop eating chips and guacamole from Mi Vida and drinking Pinot Grigio from Barkada.
After about an hour of mingling the events began with event committee member, Kelly Horton and Kevin Kim Wright, chief of staff welcoming the crowd and speaking about the importance of their presence during this pivotal time in queer youth history. Then, Wright welcomed BIPOC Scholar Katherine Guerrero Rivera, saying she was a model of a Point scholar.
“We’re always impressed with all of our scholars and Katherine is another example of a student who is deeply engaged in their campus life and a myriad of projects, everything from creating her own podcast to being a part of a number of student organizations.” Wright said.
Rivera said that the Point Foundation scholarship helps her resist the pressure to drop out. She pointed out that just over 50 percent of Latina students who attend college graduate.
“The Point BIPOC Scholarship is not just financial support, Point has connected me with hundreds of people like me studying on campuses across the country.” she said.
Rivera is a criminology major and poetics minor at University of Maryland and said she hopes to use her degree to bring knowledge to her community through art and advocacy. She said it is important for her to take academic jargon and make it accessible to her community.
“Too often, the history of LGBTQ and people are ignored and silenced during our education,” she said. “I want to use my access to higher education and the chance to develop my creative skills to bring light to societal issues.”
She finished her speech with applause for the audience, then Horton came back with drag queen Tara Hoot to discuss ways donors could continue to support the Point Foundation.
After the lineup of events Wright said he felt great about the event, because it was a celebration of Point’s scholars.
“Some are interning for United States senators, some are volunteering for leading national non-profits, so to be able to celebrate all that’s being done here is truly amazing,”
Wright continued, thanking the D.C. restaurant community for consistently showing up in force to support Point.
“This really helps to paint the picture that this movement is growing,” he said. “People believe in this mission to provide LGBTQ young people with the opportunity to pursue their higher education goals, to improve their leadership abilities and then go on to make a significant impact on society.”
CLICK HERE to see more photos from Taste of Point.
EXCLUSIVE: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on speaking out and showing up
Vladimir Putin takes office for fifth term as Russia’s president
Billy Porter, Keke Palmer, Ava Max to perform at Capital Pride
Center for Black Equity announces leadership change
