Former Journalist Shares Experience of Assault in Washington, DC

A former journalist based in Washington, DC, disclosed on Thursday that she was “hardly attacked and sexually assaulted” in the city, adding that the local police department refused to incorporate her case into its crime statistics.

Anna Giaritelli, who previously reported on Homeland Security for the Washington Examiner, shared details of her violent attack and the response from both the Metropolitan Police Department and the legal system. This revelation comes shortly after President Trump announced a significant crackdown on crime in Washington, DC.

“On a Saturday morning in 2020, I stepped out of my apartment in Capitol Hill to mail a package just a few blocks away. Wearing a black sweatshirt and sweatpants, I thought it was just a simple errand,” Giaritelli recounted. “But not far from my building, a man, towering over six feet, confronted me without any clear reason. I’m not sure what might have happened if it weren’t for a nearby construction worker, Donnie, who heard my screams and rushed over.”

Giaritelli emphasized that her experience underscored how the DC police and judicial system failed to protect citizens. She explained that although her attacker was apprehended “a few months later” and sentenced to prison, his violence is absent from the city’s crime statistics.

“DC police concealed severe mistakes made regarding my case,” she remarked. She noted that the online “Crime Card” statistics page, intended to map criminal incidents across the district, failed to include her attack or any sexual assault cases.

When she inquired with the MPD in 2020 about the absence of her case on the crime map, a spokesperson indicated that only first-degree felonies were included in the crime statistics. This implied that various incidents of robbery, assault, or sexual abuse, which might not have been classified as severe, were effectively dismissed from the overall count. “Under MPD’s criteria, the pain you endured wasn’t considered significant enough,” she lamented.

Giaritelli further shared that while the crime map claimed to include sexual abuse accusations, her own experiences remained unlisted within the online database.

Despite her frustrations, she praised DC law enforcement for their quick response to her attack, noting that DNA evidence collected around two months later led to an arrest. Yet, she expressed concern about her assailant being released so quickly by a judge, highlighting that he had been arrested five separate times but was still awaiting trial for sexual assault.

The MPD did not immediately respond to requests for comments.

In related news, Trump claimed on Monday that the reported crime statistics in DC, which suggest a roughly 26% drop in violent crimes from the previous year, were “fake.” Attorney General Pam Bondy promised to investigate these claims. Recently, there were allegations of a DC Police Commander manipulating crime data to portray a more favorable trend.