Journalist Says DC Police ‘Covered Up’ Her Sexual Assault, Courts Repeatedly Released Attacker
Washington Examiner reporter Anna Giaritelli detailed a horrifying attack she suffered through in Washington, D.C., accusing police of “covering up” the assault.
“This is the most important story I’ve told. It’s my story. I’ve waited five years to share it, and I’m ready now. I’m Anna Giaritelli. The DC police are covering up crime. I know because they covered up what happened to me,” Giaritelli wrote in a lengthy thread on X on Thursday.
The reporter also detailed her case in an op-ed for Washington Examiner and in an interview this week with Fox News.
Giaritelli revealed that in 2020 she was sexually assaulted by a homeless man, and said police crime statistics do not include her case.
“D.C. police covered up the unspeakable wrong that the stranger did to me. Even though a judge sentenced my attacker to hard time in prison, D.C. police leadership would rather deceive the public and appear less dangerous than list mine and countless other sexual assaults on their website,” she wrote.
The reporter is not the first to question D.C.’s official crime statistics. Critics of President Donald Trump deploying National Guard troops to D.C. as part of a crime crackdown have noted that official data shows a significant reduction in violent crime this year. Last month, an NBC News affiliate confirmed an MPD police commander was placed on administrative leave in May after being accused of falsifying stats. Union officials have also alleged that the official stats do not accurately represent what is happening on the street.
Giaritelli wrote on Thursday that she was assaulted in broad daylight in 2020 on her way to the post office, just one block from her apartment. The reporter took issue with MPD’s data in regards to her attack.
“My attacker was arrested on the street months later, charged, and pleaded guilty to a sex abuse charge nearly two years later,” she wrote. “MPD’s ‘Crime Cards’ online statistics page omits mentioning it, though. Do you know what that communicates to a victim? How invalidating that is?” she wrote.
Giaritelli said a spokesperson for MPD told her only first degree felonies are included in crime stat reports. She also revealed a response from MPD this week.
“In a follow-up email to @DCPoliceDept this week, an MPD spokesperson stated after a back-and-forth exchange that the map includes some sex abuse charges, but not all of them. In my case, my attacker’s crime against me, which landed him in prison, is still not listed,” she wrote.
Beyond the question of stats, Giaritelli also said her attacker was repeatedly released by courts despite his DNA being matched to her clothing after the assault. Her trial date was pushed back to 2021, and meanwhile, the man in question was arrested and released multiple times. Giaritelli moved to another part of town out of fear.
“The man who attacked me was arrested by diligent DC police officers on 5 separate incidents as we waited to go to trial,” she wrote. “But after every arrest, the judge permitted his immediate release, even when he was caught in public with a machete.”
Giaritelli told Fox News on Wednesday evening that she felt “seen” after a Trump press conference where he highlighted crime in D.C.
“President Trump’s message, you know, it made me feel seen for the first time and made me feel like someone was going to do something about the crime that I experienced and other people. Regardless of party, regardless of beliefs, no one should be a victim of crime,” she said.
Watch above via Fox News.
