Serial Rapist Indicted for Three Violent Stranger Sexual Attacks

            WASHINGTON – Jose Angel Gomez, 42, formerly of Washington, D.C., was indicted today by a District of Columbia grand jury on numerous counts of first degree sexual abuse while armed with aggravating circumstances and first degree sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances, for three rapes involving three different victims who were strangers to him, that occurred between July and October 2018, announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and Chief Pamela Smith, of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            According to court documents, on July 15, 2018, at approximately 2:45 a.m., Gomez knocked on the back door of a home in the 5500 block of 8^th St. NW. When the victim emerged, Gomez brandished a knife to her face, forced the victim to the ground and raped her at knifepoint. The victim was able to kick Gomez and escape back inside of her home, where she called 911. The victim sustained a cut to her face and other injuries. Police responded immediately, canvassed for the suspect, and transported the victim to the hospital, where she obtained a sexual assault examination.

            On September 7, 2018, at approximately 11:48 p.m., in the 100 block of Gallatin Street, NE, Gomez raped a second victim at knifepoint, also a stranger to him. This time, Gomez followed a woman from the Ft. Totten Metro, and dragged the victim into a wooded area nearby, where he raped her at knifepoint. Gomez then fled the scene. The victim sustained injures but was able to flag down police. The victim was transported by ambulance to the hospital, where she received a sexual assault examination. 

            On October 21, 2018, at approximately 6:35 a.m., in the 5400 block of 7^th Street, NW, Gomez sexually assaulted a third stranger victim. The victim had called for a share ride to take her to work. As she waited at the corner of 7^th and Longfellow Street, NW, the defendant approached her and began talking to her. The victim asked Gomez to leave her alone, but he continued trying to have a conversation with her. As she checked on the status of her rideshare vehicle, she started to walk away but Gomez followed her. Gomez grabbed the victim by the throat and dragged her under the porch of a nearby home. Gomez raped the victim under the porch, strangling the victim harder when she attempted to move. When the assault was over, Gomez fled on foot. The victim sustained injuries and immediately returned home and called police, who responded promptly. The victim was transported to the hospital, where she obtained a sexual assault examination.

            By December 2018, all three rape kits had been forensically tested, and the DNA profile of an unknown male had been obtained from the testing of all three kits and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) maintained by the FBI. The cases matched each other but the perpetrator was still unknown.

            Detectives with MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit continued to develop and investigate forensic leads over the next several years in an exhaustive effort to identify the unknown assailant. Once identified, Gomez was arrested in Louisville, Kentucky on June 7, 2023 and transported by law enforcement to D.C. Subsequent DNA testing confirmed that Gomez was the rapist in all three cases. He is currently detained pending trial.

            On July 10, 2024, a District of Columbia Grand jury returned an indictment, charging Gomez with three counts of first-degree sexual abuse while armed with aggravating circumstances, five counts of first-degree sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances, and two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, for the attacks on the three victims. If convicted, Gomez faces a maximum penalty of life without release, and would be required to register as a sex offender for the remainder of his lifetime. Trial is scheduled to begin on September 17, 2024, before the Honorable Anthony Epstein.

            This case was invested by the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amy Zubrensky and Marco Crocetti.

            This case was brought as part of the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s Cold Case Sexual Assault Initiative and investigated by MPD’s Sexual Assault Unit, Cold Case Unit. In February 2018, the U.S. Attorney created the Cold Case Sexual Assault Initiative, designed to work with law enforcement partners to reinvestigate, solve and bring charges in previously-unsolved cases of sexual assault of adults and juveniles. The Cold Case Initiative works with the MPD, the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the United States Marshal’s Service, and state and local law enforcement agencies in the DMV area and nationwide.

            An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.