Federal prosecutors say a late-night armed attack that started on a Northeast D.C. street and ended in Maryland woods has now led to a kidnapping conviction that could put a 24-year-old District man in prison for life.
Kaevon Sutton pleaded guilty this week to a federal kidnapping charge for his role in a May 2023 incident that prosecutors say ended with two victims stranded and unclothed in the woods in Maryland. According to court filings, the episode began in Northeast Washington, where Sutton and others allegedly forced the two at gunpoint into their own vehicles and then drove them across state lines. Sutton faces a potential life sentence and is due to be sentenced in September.
In a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, prosecutors said Sutton entered his guilty plea on March 6 before U.S. District Court Judge Timothy J. Kelly to one count of kidnapping. The filing lists the case as 25cr221 and notes that sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 17, 2026. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Caelainn Carney and Joshua Satter are listed as the prosecutors on the case.
What prosecutors say happened
According to prosecutors, the violence unfolded around 1:44 a.m. on May 20, 2023, on the 4900 block of Quarles Street NE. The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Sutton ordered two victims to the ground and assaulted them while co-conspirators searched the pair and their belongings.
Prosecutors allege one victim was forced into a Nissan Murano and the other into a GMC Yukon. Sutton and others then drove the victims’ own vehicles into Bladensburg, Maryland, where, according to the release, the victims were stripped and ordered into nearby woods before the defendants fled.
Federal kidnapping law and what it means
Because the victims were transported from the District into Maryland, prosecutors brought a federal kidnapping charge, which carries some of the stiffest penalties available in non-capital cases. Under federal law, kidnapping that involves interstate transport may be punished by “imprisonment for any term of years or for life,” per 18 U.S.C. § 1201.
The guilty plea resolves the one-count indictment, but the actual punishment will be decided by Judge Kelly, who will weigh the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines along with any victim impact statements and other information presented at the September hearing.
Defendant's recent court history
Sutton has surfaced in local court records before. As detailed by DC Witness, he was tried in a 2018 homicide case and acquitted of first-degree murder at trial in March 2023, but was convicted on a weapons charge. He received a suspended sentence and probation in that matter.
That recent history may shape how judges and prosecutors approach sentencing in the federal case, where the legal stakes are significantly higher.
Sutton remains in custody as the case moves toward the September sentencing date. The FBI Washington Field Office and the Metropolitan Police Department are listed as investigators in the federal filing. Prosecutors have not released the victims’ names and have not said publicly whether the plea agreement includes any recommended sentence.
