District Man Pleads Guilty to Multiple Home Invasions in Trinidad Neighborhood

           WASHINGTON – Donte Watson, 33, of Washington, DC, pleaded guilty on Friday in a case where he was charged with 38 counts of armed burglary, armed robbery, armed kidnapping, and other violent crimes that he committed in the Trinidad neighborhood of Northeast Washington, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

           Watson pleaded guilty in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on August 30, 2019 to burglary while armed and kidnapping while armed. As part of the plea agreement he will serve between 15 and 27 years in prison. He will be sentenced on November 12, 2019, by the Honorable Robert Salerno. 

           According to the government’s evidence, over 11 days in November and December 2018, Watson committed 10 different home invasions and attempted home invasions in the Trinidad neighborhood of Washington D.C. All of the incidents occurred during nighttime hours when people were at home. In the instances where he successfully entered homes, he mostly confronted and robbed the occupants, usually with a weapon.  In one case, he kidnapped two victims, taking them from their bedroom at knifepoint to go to ATM machines. Watson was on parole for a prior burglary conviction, where he likewise broke into an occupied Trinidad residence at night and robbed the victims, as well as two other convictions for attempted robbery. 

           In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Liu and Chief Newsham commended the work of the officers and detectives who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department. They also commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Palmer-Ball, who prosecuted the case.