WASHINGTON — A DC police officer was found guilty of sexual abuse of a child on Friday after he was identified by his victim while parking his police van on her street.
"How in the world did I manage to f--ing do that?," D.C. Officer Lucius Kearney said to himself after running the victim's license plate, according to bodycam audio from the 2019 encounter.
Because of that chance encounter, Kearney was found guilty of sexual abuse on Friday.
The sexual abuse incident occurred when the victim was in the 10th grade and had been visiting the Fourth District Police District for a school project during the 2005-2006 school year. It was during this visit that she exchanged phone numbers with the on-duty Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) officer.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office of D.C., Kearney, who was around 33 at the time, started texting the victim sexually explicit messages after that meeting.
A performance rating form confirmed that Kearney had been stationed in the Fourth District during this time period.
When the victim volunteered at the D.C. public library, Kearney showed up and lured her into his truck where he would sexually abuse her, according to the U.S. Attorney's report.
"I know you," the woman said to Kearney while he parked his police van on her street in 2019. The victim then retreated into her house.
The victim, now an adult, worked with a therapist to identify Kearney as the officer who had abused her as a teenager.
In 2021, Kearney was charged with first-degree sexual abuse of a child. But despite this charge, Kearney remained on the MPD payroll and was placed on administrative leave.
WUSA9 has reached out to MPD for Kearney's current employment status. Typically, D.C. law enforcement make a decision about an officer's pay status after their case is decided in court.
Kearney, now 52, has been scheduled for a sentencing hearing in December.