When a Fair Oaks woman was sexually assaulted while she slept, in the early morning hours of Aug. 20, little was known about the incident or the suspect.
But search warrants filed in Fairfax County Circuit Court reveal that — not only does the suspect have a prior arrest record — but it wasn't the first time he broke into that particular apartment.
The suspect — who's been charged in connection with both crimes — is Dong Soo Kim, 36, of 12162 Penderview Lane in Fair Oaks' Penderbrook community. In affidavits for search warrants filed Aug. 22 and 23, county police Det. Ronald K. Miller presented details of the cases against Kim, as he sought permission to search Kim's home and to obtain forensic evidence from his person.
Miller, assigned to the Sex Crimes Section of the Criminal Investigations Bureau, wrote that, on July 31, around 3:30 a.m., a resident of the 12100 block of Greenway Court — also in Penderbrook — heard noises and awoke to find [Kim] allegedly standing in his bedroom. Later, after the intruder left, the victim called police and described him as a tall, thin male who wore a white T-shirt and shorts.
Police Officer E.C. Becker responded to the home, learned that the man had entered via an unlocked, sliding-glass door and obtained several latent fingerprints from it. Afterward, he submitted these prints to the Northern Virginia Regional Identification Section (NOVARIS) for analysis.
Then — less than a month later — on Aug. 20, police say Kim reportedly struck again, breaking into the same home and allegedly sexually assaulting a 33-year-old woman who was an acquaintance of the resident. The woman was asleep in the bedroom, around 12:45 a.m., when she felt herself being violated.
"She turned to find a [man] kneeling by the bed," wrote Miller. "Once confronted by the victim, the [man] fled the residence. It was determined that [he] gained entry through the same door [as on] July 31." The suspect was described as 6 feet, 150 pounds, with dark hair and wearing a light shirt. After he left, it was discovered that a round, gray, Pyrex-type, glass ashtray was missing from the home.
The victim underwent a sexual-assault examination at Inova Fairfax Hospital. Meanwhile, Joe Scerra, a fingerprint-identification specialist with NOVARIS, examined the evidence submitted by Officer Becker and entered the fingerprints into the NOVARIS database.
According to Miller, the database matched the fingerprints submitted with those of Dong Soo Kim. He also noted that Kim is not known to the resident or to his acquaintance.
"A check of local police records revealed that Dong Soo Kim has been arrested for peeping into a dwelling, destruction of property and [being] drunk in public," wrote Miller.
The peeping and property-destruction offenses occurred Oct. 3, 2000, and Kim was sentenced for them, Nov. 17, 2000, in Fairfax County General District Court. He received 90 days in jail, with 60 suspended, for peeping, and a 90-day suspended sentence for destruction of property.
The detective also checked DMV records on Kim and learned that he was described in them as being 6 feet 1 inch, 160 pounds, with brown hair — which, wrote Miller, is "consistent with the description previously provided by the resident."
Miller then requested permission to search Kim's apartment for the ashtray and to obtain forensic evidence from his person, including head and pubic hairs, fingernail scrapings and clippings, plus ink fingerprints and palm prints. Both search warrants were granted and were executed on Aug. 23. Police obtained the evidence from Kim, himself, and seized clothing and other items from his home.
Following the July 31 incident, police arrested Kim and charged him with burglary with intent to commit rape. He was held at the Adult Detention Center without bond.
Once police determined — through his fingerprints, forensic evidence and description — that Kim was also allegedly responsible for the Aug. 20 incident, they served him in jail with arrest warrants charging him with burglary and two counts of object sexual penetration. If convicted of either of the sexual-penetration charges, Kim could receive as much as life in prison. He has an Oct. 15 court date.