District Man Sentenced to 5 ½ Years in Prison
For Obstructing Justice, Violating Protection Order
- Tried to Shift Blame in Assault on the Mother of His Child -

     WASHINGTON – Kareem Spriggs, 31, of Washington, D.C., has been sentenced to a prison term of 5 ½ years for obstructing justice in an assault case and violating a civil protection order obtained by the mother of his child, U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. announced.

     Spriggs pled guilty in July 2011 in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia to charges of obstruction of justice and violating the protection order. He was sentenced October 18, 2011 by the Honorable Heidi M. Pasichow.

     The civil protection order, issued in July 2010, barred Spriggs from having any contact with a woman who was the mother of his child. However, on October 21, 2010, he went to the woman’s home in Southeast Washington and got into a verbal altercation with her. During the altercation, he punched the victim in her left eye, fracturing her eye socket, and also assaulted the woman’s 12-year-old daughter.

     Spriggs was subsequently indicted on charges stemming from the attack. He was released pending trial and placed in a high-intensity supervision program that required him to wear a GPS monitor. While he was free, Spriggs incurred several infractions for being in the block where the victim resided, which was confirmed by the GPS unit. In March 2011, Judge Pasichow detained Spriggs pending trial and ordered him to have no contact with the victim.

     However, while he was in jail, Spriggs contacted the victim nearly every day. During some calls, Spriggs told her that she should testify that another male was in the apartment at the time she was assaulted and that the other man caused her injuries. He also told her that she should tell her daughter to “play stupid” and say that she did not get hit.

     In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Ronald Machen expressed his appreciation to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), and particularly praised the work of Detective Cornell Johnson. U.S. Attorney Machen also commended the work of U.S. Attorney’s Office Paralegal Joyce Arthur. Finally, he commended the efforts of Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle Bradford, who indicted and prosecuted the case.

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