The man who raped a woman on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail in Herndon, Virginia, in late 2024 has been convicted, the Office of the Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney said Tuesday.
Denis Humberto Roman Navarette, now 33, is scheduled for sentencing Dec. 11 and faces up to 18 years in prison for the Nov. 18, 2024 attack, per the terms of his plea agreement.
“My office reached this outcome because the defendant poses a clear risk to public safety and cannot remain in the community,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said. “He harmed the victim immeasurably, and, by raping a stranger in a public park, he harmed everyone in our community who uses public spaces.”
Herndon police responded to the W&OD Trail that Monday night for the report of a sexual assault. Officers met with the victim, a woman, who told police she was walking home from Jimmy’s Old Town Tavern when she was approached by Roman Navarette, who pulled down her leggings and underwear and forcibly raped her.
“This is the only stranger rape that we have had in the town in my more than 12 years as chief of police,” then-Chief Maggie DeBoard said the day after Roman Navarette’s arrest.
Police identified Roman Navarette on the trail shortly after and he confessed to the rape, according to a news release from Descano’s office.
His conviction was delayed because Roman Navarette was previously found incompetent to stand trial. He’s spend much of the last year “undergoing competency restoration proceedings,” Descano’s office said.
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