What started as a supposed babysitting gig in Southeast D.C. ended in blood, duct tape and a desperate roadside escape, after two women were stabbed, bound and forced into a car in what federal prosecutors say was a plot to keep an accuser from showing up in a rape trial. Authorities describe the scheme as a bold attempt to intimidate and silence a witness, allegedly choreographed from inside a jail cell. Sentencing hearings are set for later this summer and fall as federal prosecutors move toward punishment.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in D.C., Cierra Charity Lee, 20, and Kayvon Edwards, 21, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on April 30, 2026, to federal kidnapping and armed robbery charges. Co-defendant Robynn Danielle Bynum, 18, had already pleaded guilty on April 16. Judge Christopher R. Cooper set Lee’s sentencing for Aug. 4 and Edwards’ for Sept. 10; a date for Bynum’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
Prosecutors Say Plot Was Run From Jail
Investigators say Edwards was locked up in Prince George’s County on separate charges when he allegedly pulled the strings from behind bars, using monitored jail phone calls to urge Lee and Bynum to silence the alleged accuser. As reported by WJLA, the women lured the victim to a home on the 2300 block of Irving Place SE with a babysitting offer, then stabbed both women, bound them with duct tape, took their phones and car keys and tried to drive them out of state.
Flat Tire Foils Getaway, Victims Break Free
The plan fell apart in about the least glamorous way possible: a flat tire. Prosecutors say the vehicle, later recovered with blood-stained duct tape in the back seat, broke down long enough for the victims to get out of their restraints and flag down a passerby for help. In its April 30 press release, the U.S. Attorney’s Office quoted U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro calling the scheme “a calculated effort, directed by Edwards from jail, to intimidate and silence a witness,” and noted that both victims were treated at a hospital and released.
What The Convictions Mean
With the guilty pleas entered, the case now moves into the federal sentencing phase, where the stakes are high. Under the U.S. code, kidnapping can be punished “by any term of years or for life,” and certain circumstances trigger mandatory minimum sentences, all filtered through the federal guidelines that judges use in weighing punishment.
The state rape case that prosecutors say set this chain of events in motion was later dropped in Maryland for “burden of proof” reasons, according to The Washington Post, giving the federal kidnapping and robbery prosecution a complicated backdrop. Investigators say the FBI and the Metropolitan Police Department worked alongside federal prosecutors on the probe, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Satter is handling the case. With sentencing dates on the calendar, a federal judge will now sort through each defendant’s role as the court decides their futures in August and September.
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