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Published on November 08, 2024
Washington D.C. Man Sentenced to 40 Years for Kidnapping and Sexual Assaults After ConvictionSource: Google Street View

A Washington D.C. man has been sentenced to a substantial 40 years in prison after being convicted of a harrowing series of violent crimes, including kidnapping, robbery, and repeated sexual assaults. The judgment, issued by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols, was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and other law enforcement officials, as recounted by a Department of Justice release.

Mark A. Blue, the 34-year-old convict, launched his criminal assault on the young Maryland mother in December 2018. Post a five-day trial in March this year, he was found guilty on several counts of first-degree sexual abuse and other related charges. Alongside the lengthy prison term, Judge Nichols also told Blue to pay $999 in restitution to the victim, a modest sum in stark contrast to the immeasurably greater trauma inflicted. After serving his sentence, Blue's freedom will yet be limited by a lifetime term of supervised release.

The evidence brought before the court painted a chilling sequence of events: Blue, with an accomplice, seized the victim while she walked home from a bus stop. They stripped her, robbed her, and assaulted her. Blue transported her to different locations, including Southeast Washington, D.C., where Blue sexually assaulted her yet again. They left their victim naked and alone in an alley, her eyes covered with her own shirt, according to the Justice Department.

Before this episode of violence, Blue was under supervised release for a 2013 armed robbery conviction. Key details of his latest crime were captured on surveillance cameras, including some ATM footage. Blue fled shortly after his crime was committed but was apprehended following a tip from someone who recognized him from a news show. The multi-agency investigation that led to Blue's conviction involved the FBI’s Washington Field Office Violent Crimes Task Force, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Prince George’s County Police Department.