District of Columbia
Md. man charged with targeting gays for assault in Meridian Hill Park
Federal indictment says attacker posed as police officer
A 48-year-old man who has lived in recent years in Oxon Hill, Md. and Norfolk, Va., was arrested in Norfolk on July 14 for allegedly assaulting five men he believed to be gay by spraying them in the face with pepper spray between 2018 and 2021 in D.C.’s Meridian Hill Park, which is also known as Malcolm X Park.
The arrest of Michael Thomas Pruden came two weeks after a federal grand jury handed down an indictment on June 29 charging Pruden with five counts of assault on federal land, one count of impersonating a federal officer, and a hate crime sentencing enhancement alleging that he assaulted four of the men because of their perceived sexual orientation.
“After nightfall, Meridian Hill Park was informally known in the Washington, D.C. community to be a meeting location for men seeking to engage in consensual sexual encounters with other men,” the indictment by the U.S. District Court for D.C. grand jury states. “This practice is colloquially known as ‘cruising,’” the indictment says.
“Michael Thomas Pruden frequented Meridian Hill Park after nightfall and on multiple occasions, including those described below, assaulted men in Meridian Hill Park by approaching them with a flashlight, giving police-style commands, and spraying them with a chemical irritant,” the indictment states.
The D.C. federal grand jury handed down its indictment against Pruden 11 months after a U.S. District Court trial jury in Alexandria, Va., found him not guilty of a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon for allegedly pepper spraying and striking in the head with a large tree branch a man on Daingerfield Island in Alexandria, which is also known as a gay cruising site.
Federal court records in Virginia show that the Daingerfield Island assault took place on March 21, 2021, five days before the D.C. grand jury indictment says Pruden allegedly assaulted the fifth victim in the Meridian Hill Park attacks on March 26, 2021.
The Virginia court records show that Pruden was arrested for the Daingerfield Island assault on May 7, 2021, about two months after the assault took place. The trial court jury acquitted him in that case on Aug. 11, 2021, the court records show. The online court records do not provide information about the witness testimony and arguments by prosecutors and the defense attorney that may have prompted the jury to acquit Pruden in that case.
A July 14 statement released by the U.S. Department of Justice announcing the indictment against Pruden for the Meridian Hill Park assaults says the U.S. Park Police and the FBI’s Washington Field Office conducted the investigation for the case. The statement notes that Meridian Hill Park is one of several federal parks located in D.C. that are under the jurisdiction of U.S. Park Police.
Neither the indictment nor the DOJ statement mentions that U.S. Park police for years have been arresting gay men in Meridian Hill Park on misdemeanor sex-related charges. The most recent known series of sex-related arrests in Meridian Hill Park took place in 2019, when at least 14 of the arrests took place.
An attorney representing one of the arrested men told the Blade that undercover plain-clothes Park Police officers were posing as men cruising for sex and appeared to be enticing the men into masturbating or prompting them to touch the officer, thinking they were interacting with a willing sex partner but engaging in action resulting in their arrest.
LGBTQ activists familiar with this type of arrest have said that while they don’t condone public sex in places like Meridian Hill Park, most of the alleged sexual activity takes place at night in hidden places such as behind thick underbrush where the general public would not observe such activity.
The Blade couldn’t immediately determine whether additional sex-related arrests have taken place in Meridian Hill Park since 2019.
“Pruden faces a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years for each assault count and a three-year statutory maximum sentence for impersonating a federal officer,” the Justice Department statement says. It says the hate crimes sentencing enhancement handed down by the grand jury increases the possible sentence for the assault counts.
“Before spraying the men, Pruden pretended to be a Park Police officer, shined a flashlight in the victims’ faces and gave the victims police-style directives,” the DOJ statement says. It points out that the indictment charges Pruden with assaulting four of the five victims because of their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
WUSA 9 TV and the Daily Mail have reported that Pruden is a former elementary school teacher in Maryland, but the two news outlets did not say how they obtained that information or where in Maryland Pruden worked as a teacher.
Pruden, who had been held in custody in Norfolk since his arrest on July 14, pleaded not guilty to the charges against him at a virtual Zoom arraignment hearing on July 20 organized by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Washington.
Without objection from prosecutors with the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office, Magistrate Judge G. Michael Harvey agreed to a request by Pruden’s court-appointed defense attorney, Alfred Guillaume, that he be released into the custody of a third-party guardian while awaiting trial. Guillaume said Pruden’s mother would act as the guardian and Pruden would be staying at his mother’s residence in Norfolk.
Guillaume, acting on Pruden’s behalf, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Frederick Yett, one of two prosecutors assigned to the case, agreed to a series of restrictions placed on Pruden as a condition for his release that were recommended by the court’s Pretrial Services office.
Among the conditions, which were approved by the judge, are that Pruden must stay away from all individuals he is accused of assaulting and refrain from taking any action that could be interpreted as an attempt to threaten or influence any witnesses in the case.
Other conditions require that he not travel out of the state of Virginia without getting permission from the court; that he remains indoors at his Norfolk residence between the hours of 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.; that he submits to location monitoring; if recommended by the Pretrial Services office, he must enter a substance abuse counseling program; and he must confer regularly with the Pretrial Service office staff.
In response to a question asked by Magistrate Judge Harvey about his educational background, Pruden said he has a master’s degree in education. Media outlets have reported that Pruden previously has worked as an elementary school teacher in Maryland, but no specific details have surfaced regarding the school where he taught.
His next court appearance for a status hearing, which the judge said will also be virtual through Zoom, was scheduled for July 28.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
District of Columbia
Judge rescinds order against activist in Capital Pride lawsuit
Darren Pasha accused of stalking organization staff, board members, volunteers
A D.C. Superior Court judge on Feb.18 agreed to rescind his earlier ruling declaring local gay activist Darren Pasha in default for failing to attend a virtual court hearing regarding an anti-stalking lawsuit brought against him by the Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events.
The Capital Pride lawsuit, initially filed on Oct. 27, 2025, accuses Pasha of engaging in a year-long “course of conduct” of “harassment, intimidation, threats, manipulation, and coercive behavior” targeting Capital Pride staff, board members, and volunteers.
In his own court filings without retaining an attorney, Pasha has strongly denied the stalking related allegations against him, saying “no credible or admissible evidence has been provided” to show he engaged in any wrongdoing.
Judge Robert D. Okum nevertheless on Feb. 6 approved a temporary stay-away order requiring Pasha to stay at least 100 feet away from Capital Pride’s staff, volunteers, and board members until the time of a follow-up court hearing scheduled for April 17. He reduced the stay-away distance from 200 yards as requested by Capital Pride.
In his two-page order issued on Feb. 18, Okun stated that Pasha explained that he was involved in a scooter accident in which he was injured and his phone was damaged, preventing him from joining the Feb. 6 court hearing.
“Therefore, the court finds there is a good cause for vacating the default,” Okun states in his order.
At the time he initially approved the default order at the Feb. 6 hearing that Pasha didn’t attend, Okun scheduled an April 17 ex parte proof hearing in which Capital Pride could have requested a ruling in its favor seeking a permanent anti-stalking order against Pasha.
In his Feb. 18 ruling rescinding the default order Okun changed the April 17 ex parte proof hearing to an initial scheduling conference hearing in which a decision on the outcome of the case is not likely to happen.
In addition, he agreed to consider Pasha’s call for a jury trial and gave Capital Pride 14 days to contest that request. The Capital Pride lawsuit initially called for a non-jury trial by judge.
One request by Pasha that Okum denied was a call for him to order Capital Pride to stop its staff or volunteers from posting information about the lawsuit on social media. Pasha has said the D.C.-based online blog called DC Homos, which Pasha claims is operated by someone associated with Capital Pride, has been posting articles portraying him in a negative light and subjecting him to highly negative publicity.
“The defendant has not set forth a sufficient basis for the court to restrict the plaintiff’s social media postings, and the court therefore will deny the defendant’s request in his social media praecipe,” Okun states in his order.
A praecipe is a formal written document requesting action by a court.
Pasha called the order a positive development in his favor. He said he plans to file another motion with more information about what he calls the unfair and defamatory reports about him related to the lawsuit by DC Homos, with a call for the judge to reverse his decision not to order Capital Pride to stop social media postings about the lawsuit.
Pasha points to a video interview on the LGBTQ Team Rayceen broadcast, a link to which he sent to the Washington Blade, in which DC Homos operator Jose Romero acknowledged his association with Capital Pride Alliance.
Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos didn’t immediately respond to a message from the Blade asking whether Romero was a volunteer or employee with Capital Pride.
Pasha also said he believes the latest order has the effect of rescinding the temporary stay away order against him approved by Okun in his earlier ruling, even though Okun makes no mention of the stay away order in his latest ruling. Capital Pride attorney Nick Harrison told the Blade the stay away order “remains in full force and effect.”
Harrison said Capital Pride has no further comment on the lawsuit.
District of Columbia
Trans activists arrested outside HHS headquarters in D.C.
Protesters demonstrated directive against gender-affirming care
Authorities on Tuesday arrested 24 activists outside the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services headquarters in D.C.
The Gender Liberation Movement, a national organization that uses direct action, media engagement, and policy advocacy to defend bodily autonomy and self-determination, organized the protest in which more than 50 activists participated. Organizers said the action was a response to changes in federal policy mandated by Executive Order 14187, titled “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation.”
The order directs federal agencies and programs to work toward “significantly limiting youth access to gender-affirming care nationwide,” according to KFF, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that provides independent, fact-based information on national health issues. The executive order also includes claims about gender-affirming care and transgender youth that critics have described as misinformation.
Members of ACT UP NY and ACT UP Pittsburgh also participated in the demonstration, which took place on the final day of the public comment period for proposed federal rules that would restrict access to gender-affirming care.
Demonstrators blocked the building’s main entrance, holding a banner reading “HANDS OFF OUR ‘MONES,” while chanting, “HHS—RFK—TRANS YOUTH ARE NO DEBATE” and “NO HATE—NO FEAR—TRANS YOUTH ARE WELCOME HERE.”
“We want trans youth and their loving families to know that we see them, we cherish them, and we won’t let these attacks go on without a fight,” said GLM co-founder Raquel Willis. “We also want all Americans to understand that Trump, RFK, and their HHS won’t stop at trying to block care for trans youth — they’re coming for trans adults, for those who need treatment from insulin to SSRIs, and all those already failed by a broken health insurance system.”
“It is shameful and intentional that this administration is pitting communities against one another by weaponizing Medicaid funding to strip care from trans youth. This has nothing to do with protecting health and everything to do with political distraction,” added GLM co-founder Eliel Cruz. “They are targeting young people to deflect from their failure to deliver for working families across the country. Instead of restricting care, we should be expanding it. Healthcare is a human right, and it must be accessible to every person — without cost or exception.”
Despite HHS’s efforts to restrict gender-affirming care for trans youth, major medical associations — including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the Endocrine Society — continue to regard such care as evidence-based treatment. Gender-affirming care can include psychotherapy, social support, and, when clinically appropriate, puberty blockers and hormone therapy.
The protest comes amid broader shifts in access to care nationwide.
NYU Langone Health recently announced it will stop providing transition-related medical care to minors and will no longer accept new patients into its Transgender Youth Health Program following President Donald Trump’s January 2025 executive order targeting trans healthcare.
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