A District of Columbia cop has been arrested for armed
robbery, assault, prostitution, and several sexual offenses
after paying a 15-year-old girl for sex and then stealing the
money back at gunpoint afterward. The officer, Chukwuemeka
Ekwonna, had been with the D.C. Metropolitan Police for a
little over a year
. According to police reports, Ekwonna, 27,
met the girl in January on the app Tagged and she agreed to
meet him in his car on Jan 9, for sex in exchange for
$80. She said she met Ekwonna in the Glen Burnie area of
northern Anne Arundel County, near Baltimore-Washington
International Marshall Airport south of Baltimore.
After paying her the $80, Ekwonna sex with the minor in his
car, but after having sex with her, he allegedly threatened her
with a gun and demanded she give his money back, which
she did and fled.
Police in Anne Arundel County said the alleged incident first
came to the attention of authorities on March 13 when the
girl told counselors with the Department of Social Services
that she might be involved in a case of human trafficking. The
case was assigned to a task force that tracks trafficking
cases and includes a detective with the Anne Arundel County
Police Department.
The D.C. police Internal Affairs Division and cops from Anne
Arundel County (where the meetup took place) started
investigating, and Ekwonna was initially suspended but
eventually fired on Friday April 7th.
Arundel County police state that their:
"investigation revealed the juvenile female was acting
on her own and was not a victim of human trafficking,
however she is not being charged for any criminal
investigation related to this case."
But despite the fact that she did it voluntarily, legally, because
she is a minor, she cant get in trouble with the law.
Under US federal law, anyone engaging in prostitution before
their 18th birthday is defined as a child and anyone who
solicits someone under 18 for paid sex is committing the
federal crime of sex trafficking of children, regardless of
whether they know the minor's real age or not.
Ekwonna was arrested on two counts of sexual offenses in
the third degree (a category which includes adults having sex
with teenagers), several handgun-related offenses, and one
count each of robbery, armed robbery, first-degree assault,
second-degree assault, reckless endangerment, and
prostitution.
His victim was able to identify him from photographs, police
said.
Chukwuemeka Ekwonna of Glenn Dale in Prince George’s
County, was ordered detained Friday until his next court
hearing, which has not yet been set.
Ekwonna had previously worked with the D.C. Department of
Corrections. He was sued by an inmate who alleged he beat
him at the D.C. jail. The lawsuit was pending in federal court
when Ekwonna applied and was accepted to the police force;
the District settled the claim for $20,000 in February, 2017
according to court records and a spokesman for the D.C.
attorney general’s office.
Acting D.C. police chief Peter Newsham, said the department
is reviewing the circumstances under which the Ekwonna was
hired. He said the lawsuit over the alleged Corrections
Department incident “is something that should have been
considered. I don’t know if it was or it wasn’t, but we will look
into that.” Of the allegations filed against Ekwonna, the police
chief said, “We find them to be a disgrace to the uniform and
the badge.”
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