U.S. Marshals Service Arrests Serial Sex Abuse Suspects in Washington

Washington, DC – The U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) Superior Court Unit, working with the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) Sexual Assault Cold Case Unit, as well as other law enforcement partners for the District of Columbia Superior Court, executed an arrest warrant Nov. 20 for a man connected to 12 sex offenses which occurred in the District of Columbia between 2021 and 2024.

Uwana Ubom, 33, was arraigned at DC Superior Court on 12 charges, including three counts of third-degree sex abuse, four counts of third-degree sexual abuse while armed, and first-degree sexual abuse while armed. Most of the crimes occurred in Northwest Washington, where Ubom resided. The first two sexual offenses took place in the summer of 2021. 

Evidence testing in six cases were used to build a DNA profile for the same unknown male. DNA, in addition to surveillance footage and the accounts of 12 survivors, were key pieces of evidence in this case, allowing MPD investigators to build the case against Ubom and the USMS Superior Court Unit to locate him and execute the arrest warrant.

Ubom’s is the second case within the last two months that the USMS Superior Court Unit has executed the arrest of a serial sexual abuser. In October the USMS Superior Court Unit arrested Ernesto Ramon Mercado, 54, a suspect linked to six home invasions between 2008 and 2012, in which victims were sexually assaulted, including an attack in College Park, Maryland. Mercado is believed to have targeted college women, with five of the six attacks taking place in the Georgetown area of Northwest Washington.

The USMS Superior Court Unit, the FBI’s Washington Field Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office were integral to completing the MPD investigations and arrests of Mercado and Ubom.