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Capitol Police Officer Indicted on Rape, Child Abuse, Assault Charges

Department places accused on ‘non-duty status’

A U.S. Capitol Police line erected while officers investigate a suspicious package. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call file photo)
A U.S. Capitol Police line erected while officers investigate a suspicious package. (Chris Maddaloni/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Updated 5:06 p.m. | A United States Capitol Police officer has been indicted on 11 charges including rape, child abuse, and assault.

The officer, William Wright, 46, his 67-year-old father, Joshua Wright, and his 40-year-old brother-in-law, Donald Jackson, sexually abused four females between the ages of 15 and 18 from 2001 to 2008 who were involved in an at-risk youth program the men ran at a church in Fort Washington, Maryland, police have said.

The charges were filed Tuesday in Prince George’s County district court in Maryland.

As well as wearing the Capitol Police uniform, William Wright is a minister at Oxon Hill Assembly of Jesus Christ, where his father Joshua is the head pastor and where the men ran the program where they allegedly raped or abused the four victims.

The Wrights and Jackson abused the victims at parks, at the suspects’ homes, and at the church, police have said.

The program’s leaders provided shelter and food at their homes and classes at the church for at-risk young people.

The USCP placed Wright in a “non-duty status” after learning of the indictments.

“The United States Capitol Police takes this situation and the charges brought against William J. Wright, III, very seriously,” USCP spokeswoman Eva Malecki said in a statement.

“Upon notification of the investigation by the Prince George’s County Police, the Department immediately placed him in a non-duty status. As this is an ongoing investigation, the USCP will continue to monitor the outcome of this matter in Prince George’s County, and will have no further comment.”

Wright worked the midnight shift at the Library of Congress for roughly 10 years and is a private first class, multiple sources confirmed.

“He hasn’t reached out to me,” USCP Labor Committee chairman Gus Papathanasiou said, adding that the department would probably wait until the criminal investigation concludes to conduct their own.

“I’m shocked it’s been going on this long with nobody knowing about it,” Papathanasiou said. “As a parent, I’m absolutely disgusted hearing of this behavior.”

Sources within the department who know Wright said they were surprised when reports of the charges surfaced.

“It sucks — not for him, I mean, but for all those people,” one source said. “You never expect when someone is doing something like that.”

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