D.C. man found guilty for sexually abusing minor

The Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office has since changed Burgess’ charges to sexual abuse of a minor: household/family member.

On June 17, 2017, the victim, who was 18 years old at the time, and her mother met with Charles County Sheriff’s Office deputies regarding an ongoing sexual relationship between Burgess, who was in a relationship the victim’s mother, and with the victim.

During an interview with police, the mother of the victim said that she intercepted several text messages between her daughter and Burgess, which were very explicit in nature.

The victim told police that the defendant would let her lay in bed with him when she was about 15 or 16 years old. She said that she and Burgess talked about falling in love and sex, per court documents.

In December 2015, the defendant and the victim engaged in a sexual act, and a couple months later they engaged in another sexual act, according to court documents.

According to court documents, in January or February of 2017, the defendant and the victim engaged in sex.

During an interview with police, the victim explained that she was willing to participate in the sexual acts, but she feels that she was taken advantage of, according to court documents.

On June 21, 2017, officers interviewed Burgess and he admitted to the two sexual acts with the victim in 2016, according to charging documents.

On the first day of the trial, assistant state’s attorney Sarah Freeman called to the stand the victim’s older siblings who lived with their mother and the defendant at the time of the incident.

On Wednesday, Freeman called the now 19-year-old victim to testify. The victim told the jury that during 2015-2017 she lived with her mother, older siblings and Burgess. She testified that she was between the ages of 15 and 17 during 2015-2017.

The victim told the jury that she was bullied in school because of her physical appearance, which caused her to suffer from depression. She testified that the summer of 2015, she attempted suicide.

The victim said that after her suicide attempt, she and Burgess got closer because his affection toward her intensified. She said they would “hang out” almost every day by laying in bed and watching T.V. Burgess then started to hug and rub on the victim, according to her testimony.

She told the jury that Burgess made her feel “really good.”

“I didn’t really have anyone else,” the victim said in court.

She said that she did not have a lot of friends and felt that she could not talk to her family about her feelings or problems; however, Burgess made her feel comfortable to talk about her feelings with him.

The victim said there came a point where both she and Burgess admitted that they loved each other, which eventually led to them being physical together, including kissing, sexual acts and sexual intercourse. The victim said she became physical with Burgess at the age of 16.

She told the jury that her relationship with Burgess made her feel good and that he made her feel loved because she felt like she did not have anyone else.

The victim said that her mother and other family members would confront them about being very close; however, she would deny it.

On the first day of the trial, the jury was shown a 45 minute recorded interview between Burgess and a detective, after the victim and her mother reported the sexual abuse.

In the interview, Burgess said that he knew the victim dealt with bullying and depression.

“I’ve lived in that house for six years,” Burgess told the detective.

Freeman showed and discussed text messages between the victim and the defendant, which supported the victim’s statements about their sexual relationship.

The state and the defense, represented by public defender Gerald Riviello, both rested Wednesday afternoon.

During closing arguments, Freeman told the jury that at the age of 33, the defendant took advantage of the victim, who was a minor, while knowing she was vulnerable.

“He is the adult and she is the child,” Freeman said.

“It’s not just morally wrong, it’s criminally wrong,” Freeman said before she asked the jury to find the defendant guilty.

During the defense’s closing statements, Riviello argued that Burgess did not commit a crime by engaging in sexual acts with the victim because it was consensual. He also mentioned that the age of consent in Maryland is 16, which the victim was during the time of the acts.

Freeman later knocked down his theory by telling the jury that according to the law, in order to convict Burgess of sexual abuse of a minor, he had to be a household member in the victim’s home, the victim had to be sexually abused and the victim had to be under the age of 18 at the time of the abuse.

“This is not sexual exploitation,” Riviello told the jury before asking them to find the defendant not guilty.

After the jury deliberated less than 10 minutes, they came back with a guilty verdict.

Burgess was taken into custody following the verdict and will be held in the Charles County Detention Center until his sentencing date, which was set for July 31.

Burgess could face up to 25 years in prison.