A Lanier Heights resident says a man riding a moped sexually assaulted her on the sidewalk right outside her own apartment last Friday morning, and that police had already fielded a nearly identical complaint from another woman in the neighborhood just half an hour before. The attack happened around 10:21 a.m. in the 1600 block of Harvard Street NW, according to the Metropolitan Police Department, which is now asking the public to help identify a person of interest caught on a nearby surveillance camera.
“On Friday I was walking outside of my apartment in Lanier Heights and a man on a moped came up behind me on the sidewalk and sexually assaulted me,” the resident wrote, in an account first published by PoPville. She said she immediately contacted police, who told her they had already heard from someone else nearby that morning. “I called the police and they had received a similar call 30 min prior from another woman in the area,” she said.
MPD has logged the case as a misdemeanor sexual abuse incident under CCN 26-148-198, per the same PoPville report, and confirmed that a subject was captured by a nearby surveillance camera. Investigators have not released a description of the person of interest, the moped, or what the footage shows, and it has not been established whether the two reported calls from that Friday morning involved the same person.
Police Appeal for Tips, Offer Reward
The Metropolitan Police Department is now seeking the public's assistance in identifying the person of interest tied to the Harvard Street NW report. Anyone with information is asked to call police at (202) 727-9099 or submit a tip by text to 50411, according to the department's public appeal relayed through PoPville's reporting. Crime Solvers of Washington, DC is separately offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and indictment in connection with the case.
The Lanier Heights resident also used her account to urge anyone else targeted in a similar manner to come forward, underscoring that the nearly simultaneous reports from the same stretch of the neighborhood left her rattled. No arrest or charge has been publicly confirmed in connection with either reported incident.
Broader Numbers Offer Limited Context
Citywide, the reported sexual assault rate in Washington, DC actually ran lower in the first half of 2026 than in recent years, according to data cited by the Council on Criminal Justice. The group reported a rate of 6.2 incidents per 100,000 residents for that period, which was 10 percent lower than the same stretch of 2025 and 59 percent below the comparable period in 2019. That citywide trend does not speak to conditions specific to Lanier Heights, and it does not shed light on whether Friday's reported incidents are connected to one another or to any other case in the area.
For now, the known facts remain narrow: a resident's account of an assault outside her home, a police report naming a time, block, and case number, and a camera image investigators hope the public can help identify. Anyone who recognizes the person of interest or who has additional information is urged to reach out to MPD using the contact methods listed above.
