A Great Falls man who plied a 13-year-old girl with liquor and then had sex with her was sentenced last week to two months in jail. He is Marcus John Blackwell, 22, of 11769 Hollyview Drive.
THE GIRL lived in Gainesville, but the incident occurred in a Chantilly home where she'd gone for a sleep-over with three of her friends. Although the homeowners were upstairs at the time, they were asleep and had no knowledge of what was going on downstairs.
Fairfax County police Det. John Kelly of the Criminal Investigations Bureau detailed the case against Blackwell in a Feb. 3 affidavit for a warrant to obtain forensic evidence from his person.
The sleep-over was held Dec. 31, 2004 and, according to the affidavit, some time in the early morning hours, the victim and a 17-year-old girl called Blackwell and invited him over. During the telephone conversation, wrote Kelly, "Blackwell asked the [older teen] the age of her 13-year-old friend. The 17-year-old replied, 'She is 16.'"
He wrote that "Blackwell agreed to the [invitation] and offered to bring some alcohol and marijuana." When he arrived with a male friend, the pair met the two teen-age girls outside the residence so they wouldn't wake the sleeping homeowners.
"Blackwell and his male friend entered the residence and began consuming alcohol with the minors in the basement," wrote the detective. "Blackwell paired off with the 13-year-old and began making out — which escalated into oral sex [and] intercourse."
However, wrote Kelly, a 12-year-old child awoke, "saw the sex taking place and immediately summoned an adult from the upstairs floor. The two adult males then fled from the residence, leaving behind two condom wrappers. The actual condoms were found outside the common area."
MEANWHILE, the 13-year-old's parents rushed to the scene and alerted emergency medical services when "they found their daughter suffering from alcohol poisoning," wrote the detective. "At the hospital, [she] was found to have a blood-alcohol level of .241." In Virginia, the legal limit is .08, so the girl's total was three times the legal limit.
A sexual-assault nurse examined the girl at the hospital, and Kelly searched police and motor-vehicle records until he obtained a picture of Blackwell. He wrote that, when he showed the photo to the 13-year-old, she "positively identified" him as the person who'd had sex with her.
Kelly arrested Blackwell on Feb. 3, charging him with carnal knowledge of a minor and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Last Friday, March 25, in Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, in exchange for the carnal knowledge charge being dropped, Blackwell pleaded guilty to the other offense.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jenna Sands related the facts of the case to Judge Teena Grodner, noting that, "After drinking, [Blackwell and the teen] had consensual sexual intercourse. After [adults were alerted to the situation], the defendant fled out of the basement window."
Sands recommended that he be sentenced to 12 months in jail, with 10 months suspended, on the conditions that he have no more contact with the victim and that he's placed on active probation for 12 months.
Grodner then found Blackwell guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and imposed the recommended sentence.
She also stipulated that he must maintain good behavior and not get into any more trouble.
"I want you to understand something," she told the young man. "If you have any further contact with the victim or any violations of the law, you'll be spending the rest of the time in jail."