A man accused of beating and raping a woman inside her home in Columbia Heights was arrested multiple times in the days leading up to the attack, including an incident in which he punched two D.C. officers, according to court documents.
D.C. police say 26-year-old Theodore Tinsley, of no fixed address, broke into a woman's home on 13th Street NW about 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning.
The woman told police she woke up to find a man she didn't know and noticed he wasn't wearing shoes, court documents say. She said she got him to walk downstairs and asked him if he was hungry and he replied "yes" so she put some food in a bag and gave it to him, the documents say.
She then told him to leave through the rear door of a bedroom near the kitchen, but the suspect raped her, according to documents.
The woman said "she tried to talk her way through the assault" and asked the suspect what his name and age was. He replied that his name was "Theodore" and he was 26 years old, according to documents.
During the assault, the woman's children came downstairs and she told them to run to a neighbor's house, the documents say.
When she tried to escape, the suspect grabbed her by the hair and punched her in the face before raping her a second time, documents say.
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The suspect ran off when her neighbor showed up to the house.
Officers found Tinsley in the neighborhood the following morning and arrested him, police said.
Additional court documents obtained by News4 state that a 26-year-old Theodore Tinsley assaulted two D.C. police officers in the 1400 block of Spring Road NW three days before the attack. Police said Tinsley appeared to be under the influence of an "unknown substance" and aggressively charged at one officer while swinging his fists.
He then punched another officer multiple times in the chest while they tried to arrest him, documents say.
The Washington Post reports a D.C. Superior court judge released Tinsley on Friday after he pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting a police officer and resisting arrest. Tinsley was ordered to appear for a mental health assessment Monday, according to the Post.
A few days before that incident, a police report says a Theodore Tinsley was arrested on Friday, Oct. 25 for breaking into the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens at 4155 Linnean Avenue NW.
A volunteer saw the suspect taking a shower and museum security then found Tinsley in the worker's lounge at the estate looking inside the refrigerator, the police report said.
Tinsley allegedly stole a knife and some chicken at the estate and was arrested on a burglary charge, according to the report. It's not clear if he still faces that charge.
