WASHINGTON - A D.C. police officer facing child pornography charges apparently committed suicide one day after being released from jail.
Marc Washington was found unconscious in the Washington Channel near Hains point just after 8 p.m. Tuesday.
He had just been fitted with a GPS monitoring bracelet.
Washington was freed from jail Monday morning and was on his own until Tuesday when he was given a GPS ankle bracelet and told to go home where he would be under house arrest.
But instead of going to Waldorf, Md., the 32-year-old apparently drove himself to Hains Point where he may have jumped into the frigid waters of the Washington Channel.
FOX 5 has been closely following this case since the Seventh District officer was arrested last week. Now a timeline is starting to come together.
We now know Washington was released from the cellblock at U.S. District Court Monday morning and told to show up at the Pretrial Services Agency at 633 Indiana Avenue, NW, where he would be placed into the high intensity supervision program.
With an opportunity to talk to Washington, that is where we waited hours for him Tuesday.
But somehow, he got past us unnoticed, made his appointment, and was then, according to a source familiar with the investigation, allowed to leave through a back door onto D Street so he could avoid our camera out front.
From there, we know Washington walked a block to Superior Court where he submitted to a drug test. Where he went after that is still unclear.
We went to his Charles County, Md., house in the late afternoon, but there was no answer.
According to Cliff Keenan, Director of Pretrial Services Agency, Washington's movements were recorded by GPS and that information was turned over to police.
This is what we know about what happened Tuesday night.
A call was placed to 911 around 8:15 p.m. from an unknown male caller alerting police to a suspicious situation at bay 11 on Hains Point. That is where U.S. Park Police found a car running and clothing on the ground next to it. Officers then looked into the channel after calling harbor patrol and found the body of Officer Washington.
It is unclear how he got into the water and all along the railing is 45 yards of nothing but fingerprint dust.
Washington was facing a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted on the child porn charge.
Investigators say the Seventh District officer took naked pictures of a 15-year-old girl while in uniform and on duty.
He was telling the teen it was "procedure" after she had been reported missing by her mother.
D.C. police say investigators know who made that 911 call, but will not say if it was placed by the officer before he went in the water.
Washington was taken by helicopter to the Washington Hospital Center where he was pronounced dead sometime Tuesday morning.
We asked to talk to the chief about the investigation, but were told she was unavailable. ..Source.. by Paul Wagner
Marc Washington found in water near Hains Point after child porn investigation
(WJLA) - The body pulled from the Potomac River Tuesday night near Hains Point is D.C. police officer Marc Washington, the department confirmed Wednesday morning.
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Washington had been under investigation for producing child pornography and was transported to a nearby hospital Tuesday night in a Park Police helicopter, but D.C. police have since confirmed that he is dead.
ABC7 News has now learned that the death of 32-year-old Washington is not an open-and-shut case of suicide, despite initial appearances.
Multiple sources have confirmed that it was Marc Washington who called 911 last night, and that during the conversation, he stated: “They are following me. They are calling me names.”
Those words raised a critical red flag, and now police are trying to figure out exactly what happened. The department is officially calling it a “death investigation.”
Washington was facing a minimum of 15 years in jail, and prosecutors said that beyond the victim’s nude pictures, there were numerous other images of unidentified individuals that appeared on his camera – including two who appeared to be minors.
Last Friday, prosecutors argued against his release to house arrest based on the seriousness of the offense, the weight of the evidence, and the potential punishment.
However, Washington’s defense attorney pointed to his “exemplary military service,” and said he was awarded accolades as an officer and never had a single civilian complaint against him.
The Chief Judge sided with the defense, and placed him on house arrest with electronic monitoring.
Until confirming that Washington's body was the one found in the water Tuesday, police would say only that Washington was connected to the investigation.
Police found the body in the water off Ohio Drive in Southwest D.C., where officers also discovered an unattended vehicle and clothing located nearby. ..Source.. by Jennifer Donelan
D.C. officer found dead after charged with child porn committed suicide, M.E. says
A District police officer who was found dead in the Washington Channel shortly after he was arrested in a child sex case in December committed suicide by drowning, the D.C. medical examiner’s office has ruled.
Marc J. Washington, 32, who lived in Southern Maryland, had been charged with a single count of production of child pornography. Authorities alleged he took semi-nude pictures of a 15-year-old girl who had run away from her Southeast Washington home and later returned. The 7-year veteran was on duty at the time.
Washington death on Dec. 10 came one day after he was released from jail pending trial and ordered to remain on home detention and wear an electronic home monitoring bracelet. He had been arrested hours after the Dec. 2 incident.
He was one of two officers from the same 7th District station charged in sex related crimes in a matter of days. Officer Linwood Barnhill Jr., 47, is awaiting trial on two counts of pandering a minor for the purpose of prostitution. Police said he allegedly ran a prostitution ring from his apartment that involved at least one underage girl. Authorities say that Barnhill’s and Washington’s cases are not related.
Police said they pulled Washington from the Washington Channel on Dec. 10 about 9:30 p.m., after receiving a 911 call. The officer died at an area hospital. Authorities later found an empty car with clothing scattered nearby at Hains Point, in the first block of Ohio Drive SW.
Police had arrested Washington hours after they accused him of showing up at the apartment of the just returned girl. Court documents allege that he went into her bedroom, told her to undress and took partially nude pictures of her. The mother later called police, who arrested him in the early morning hours of Dec. 3.
At a community meeting in Southeast Washington in January, D.C. Police Chief Cathy L. Lanier told residents that Washington likely killed himself. The medical examiner’s office had not issued its final ruling at that time. ..Source.. by Peter Hermann
1 comment:
Sad from the start . But a galant dimmize . Was he still wareing the monitoring device . Hypothermia and drownd . Sacrafice for the crime . The girl will never forget this for the rest of her life . I hope murder is ruled out , or the saga will be on going .
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