Ricky McNeil Sentenced for Rape and Kidnapping of Victim on Benning Road
Friday, March 21, 2025
WASHINGTON –Ricky McNeil, 51, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 35 years in prison for a July 2023 attempted robbery in which he kidnapped the victim at knifepoint and sexually assaulted her, announced U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin, Jr. and Chief Pamela Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD).
On December 11, 2024, a Superior Court Jury found McNeil guilty of kidnapping while armed, first-degree sexual abuse with aggravated circumstances, robbery, assault with a dangerous weapon (knife), possession of a prohibited weapon (knife), and assault with significant bodily injury. In addition to the prison term, Superior Court Judge Michael O’Keefe ordered 5 years of supervised release and ordered McNeil to register as a sex offender for life upon release from prison.
According to the government’s evidence, on July 26, 2023, as the victim was walking past the defendant, a stranger to her, on Benning Rd, NE, he asked her for a cigarette. She told him she was going to the store and would buy him one. McNeil then snatched her purse off her arm and ran toward the door of his nearby apartment. When he was entering, the victim tried to grab her purse back from McNeil, at which point he grabbed her wrist, pulled her inside and barricaded the sole door to the apartment. When the victim ran to a nearby window and yelled for help, McNeil grabbed her, threw her down and began punching her. He then took the victim into another room, ordered her to disrobe and perform oral sex on him, threatening to give her a “smiley face” with a knife he was holding if she refused. When he had forced the act upon her, she immediately bit him. At that point, McNeil punched her so hard in the mouth, splitting open her lip, and continued beating her. When McNeil got distracted by a phone, the victim jumped out the second-story window to escape. She ran, partially clad, to a nearby McDonald’s where a good Samaritan let her borrow a cell phone to call 911. Police responded to the scene but McNeil had already fled.
When a search warrant was executed the following morning, the victim’s clothing and shoes were recovered from inside McNeil’s apartment, as well as her blood and his.
In October 2023, McNeil was arrested on a warrant in Tampa, FL, and extradited back to DC, where he has been held without bond.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Martin and Chief Smith commended the work of those who investigated the case from the Metropolitan Police Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. They acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Maria Sanchez-Garcia.
Finally, they commended the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Molly K. Smith and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter V. Taylor and of the Sex Offense and Domestic Violence Section, who prosecuted the case.