WASHINGTON -- Colin Hatch was a church deacon applying to be a police officer in Baltimore when he sexually assaulted a prostitute at gunpoint in the nation's capital in 2007. On Monday, federal prosecutors announced that Hatch, a 27-year-old from Capitol Heights, Md., has been sentenced to eight years in prison.
The prosecutors' media release contains many of the graphic and disturbing details of Hatch's crime:
[O]n November 17, 2007, at about 3:30 a.m., Hatch picked up a 23-year-old prostitute in downtown Washington, near 10th and K Streets NW. Hatch agreed to pay for sex, and the two drove to a residential area near 10th and O Streets NW, where they parked. Before engaging in the sexual act, the victim asked for payment. Instead, Hatch produced a .45 caliber handgun, pointed it to her head, and told her that the sex would be free. Scared for her life, the victim submitted to sexual acts in the hope that Hatch would let her go after he was finished.
After the attack, Hatch allowed the victim to leave the car. He then drove back to the area where he had picked up the victim. Approximately 15 minutes after the assault, the victim and a friend spotted the defendant driving in the area. The victim called the police. Hatch was eventually stopped in the 400 block of Eastern Avenue NE, just a few blocks from his home. The .45 caliber handgun, which he had lawfully purchased in Maryland, was found in his car. The evidence at trial also demonstrated that, although Hatch wore a condom during the sexual assault, DNA recovered from the victim matched his DNA profile.
In 2008, a D.C. Superior Court jury found Hatch guilty of sexual abuse and a handful of firearms charges, including possession of a firearm during the commission of a violent crime and possession of an unregistered firearm.
Part of this verdict was set aside on appeal. In March, Hatch pleaded guilty to one count of attempted first-degree sexual abuse and one count of possessing a firearm during the commission of the crime of violence.
Hatch has been in custody since his arrest in 2007.