Kidnapper Who Abducted and Repeatedly Raped a Total Stranger in Maryland and D.C. Sentenced to 40 Years in Prison

WASHINGTON - Mark A. Blue, 34, of Washington, D.C was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 40 years in prison for the December 2018 kidnapping, robbery, and repeated rapes of a young mother from Maryland who was a total stranger to him.

The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David Geist of the Washington Field Office's Criminal and Cyber Division, and Chief Pamela A. Smith of the Metropolitan Police Department.

On March 6, 2024, after a five-day trial, a federal jury found Blue guilty of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, kidnapping while armed, robbery while armed, and two counts of first-degree sexual abuse while armed. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols ordered Blue to pay restitution in the amount of $999 to the victim. After his sentence, Blue will have a lifetime term of supervised release.

According to the evidence presented at trial, Blue, along with a co-conspirator, targeted the victim, who was walking home from a bus stop in Prince George's County, MD. Blue stripped her naked, robbed her, forced her into a car, threatened to kill her, covered her eyes with her shirt so she would not be able to see, and sexually assaulted her in Maryland. Then Blue drove her to Southeast Washington, D.C., where he forced her to disclose her ATM information. His co-conspirator drained her bank account of nearly everything as Blue assaulted her again. Blue drove the victim to an alley where both men sexually assaulted her yet again. They left her naked in an alley, with her shirt covering her head.

At the time of the attack, Blue was under supervised release for a 2013 armed robbery conviction. Elements of the crime were captured by surveillance footage and ATM cameras. Two days after the offenses, on December 5, 2018, Blue quit his job and fled to North Carolina. A tipster, who recognized Blue's mugshot on a television news show, called law enforcement. The tipster stated that Blue had said he was wanted by police for robbing and kidnapping a girl.

This case was investigated by the FBI's Washington Field Office Violent Crimes Task Force, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the Prince George's County Police Department. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Caroline Burrell, Rachel Forman, and Paralegal Specialist Alexis Spencer-Anderson of the District of Columbia. The prosecution team received valuable assistance from Veronica Vaughan of the Victim Witness Assistance Unit, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorneys Stuart Allen, Nicholas Miranda, and Jessica Wash.

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