Jerry Smith

The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal

DOVER, Del. — Two airmen stationed at Dover Air Force Base have been charged with sexually abusing a teenage runaway who stayed with them in base housing for several months, federal prosecutors said.

An investigation into child exploitation and sexual abuse of a minor led to the arrests of Airman First Class Dalian Washington, 25, of Philadelphia, and Airman First Class Akeem Beazer, 21, of Pompano Beach, Fla., David C. Weiss, Delaware's acting U.S. attorney, said Thursday.

Lt. Katherine Vaughn with media relations at Dover Air Force Base had no immediate comment Friday about the status of the two airmen, but air-base officials released a statement saying saying were cooperating with law enforcement.

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The investigation began last month after the girl, who initially was 15 years old but since has turned 16, told a social worker that she had stayed on base and had sex with the two airmen, according to court documents. She is not being identified because she is a potential victim of a sex crime.

An agent with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and a Delaware State Police detective then interviewed the girl March 16. The detective knew the girl before the interview “as a child with a troubled home life who often lived on the street,” according to the complaint.

Washington and Beazer were arrested March 31 and made their initial court appearances in U.S. District Court that day. Both waived their rights to preliminary and detention hearings and will remain in custody pending further proceedings.

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Washington was charged with sex trafficking of a child and sexual abuse of a minor while Beazer was charged with sexual abuse of a minor.

The girl told investigators that she ran away from home in September 2016 when she was 15, met with a man she knew and told him she needed a place to stay. The man offered to hook her up with a friend of his who was an airman but said she would have to have sex with him.

Washington is accused of picking up the girl at the Delaware Division of Motor Vehicles office here from a man he believed to be her pimp. He paid $20, according to the complaint.

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The airman told investigators that he met the girl through a man who had fathered a child with a woman Washington was dating. The woman he was seeing did not want to have sex with him but told him she could get him someone, the complaint said.

When investigators asked Washington if he paid $20 to the alleged pimp, who was not named in the complaint, for the girl, Washington said yes.

"But I didn’t feel right just doin’ that, so I got to know her first,” Washington told them.

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Washington reportedly took the girl to his dorm room on base, where she stayed off and on for several months and had unprotected sex with him several times.

The airman is accused of enlisting Beazer to help look after the girl, according to the complaint. Then Beazer also began having sex with her.

Both airmen brought the girl food from the dining hall, the complaint stated.

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Washington is accused of exchanging naked photos with the girl. Investigators recovered 157 naked images of her along with a video of her performing oral sex on the airman that was recorded in August 2016.

When Beazer was interviewed, he reportedly said that he met the girl outside a grocery store one night after he received a Facebook message asking for his help. Beazer said he did not know the sender of the initial message but received a subsequent message from Washington stating that he needed Beazer to help him.

Beazer then took the child back to Washington’s room, according to the complaint.

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Two days later, Beazer reportedly took the girl to his room. And as he was playing video games with his brothers, he turned around and saw the girl naked on his bed.

He then had sex with her, Beazer told investigators. He also had sex with her in Washington's room and three other times outside of Dover Air Force Base.

During the final time he had intercourse with her, Beazer looked at her abdomen and realized she was pregnant, according to the complaint. The complaint did not mention more about her pregnancy.

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If convicted, Washington faces a mandatory minimum sentence of at least 10 years, and up to 20 years, in prison. Beazer faces a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.

According to federal Justice Department information, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Delaware State Police, Delaware Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.

Follow Jerry Smith on Twitter: @JerrySmithTNJ