FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 16, 2020

D.C. Man Has Been Convicted in Previous Sexual Assault in Virginia

            WASHINGTON – Ronald Perry Berton, 45, of the District of Columbia, was convicted by a jury on March 10, 2020, for sexually assaulting a 27-year-old woman in October 2007, announced U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Shea and Peter Newsham, Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).

            Berton was convicted after a jury trial in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia on charges of kidnapping and first degree sexual abuse with aggravating circumstances.

            Sentencing is scheduled for July 10, 2020. The defendant faces a maximum term of life in prison and lifetime sex offender registration. The defendant will also stand trial on October 8, 2020, for another home invasion sexual assault that occurred in June, 2010, in the District of Columbia. The defendant was previously convicted of a home invasion rape that occurred in Arlington County, Virginia.

            According to the government’s evidence presented at trial, on October 6, 2007, at approximately 4:45 a.m., the victim was asleep in her ground-level apartment in Northwest Washington D.C. She woke up to find the defendant in her bedroom. The defendant sexually assaulted the victim, stole her cell phone and then fled. The victim obtained a rape kit and reported the offense to police. Berton was developed as a suspect in this offense by the Cold Case Sexual Assault Unit of the Metropolitan Police Department. The defendant is linked to the case based on a DNA match to the forensic evidence in the rape kit.

            In announcing the conviction, U.S. Attorney Shea and Chief Newsham commended the work of those investigating the case from the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). They also thanked regional law enforcement partners from the Arlington County Police Department. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Tijuana McPhail, Tiffany Fogle, Michelle Wicker, and Lynda Randolph; Victim Witness Unit specialists Tonya Jones, La June Thames, Katina Adams-Washington, and Yvonne Bryant; Forensic Operations Program Specialist Elizabeth Marrero; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Bates, Nick Coleman, James Ewing, David Goodhand, Chrisellen Kolb, and Special Counsel for Forensics Michael Ambrosino. Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stuart Allen, Kathleen Kern, and Amy Zubrensky, who prosecuted the case.