B6 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26 , 2021
stopped once he realized he was
hurting the girl.
The defendant initially told
detectives the second sexual act
did not occur but later said it
may have happened briefly and
accidentally when a knee-length
skirt he was wearing got caught
on his watch as the pair were
fumbling around in the bath-
room stall.
The two teens had met about a
month and a half before the
attack and became friends, the
girl testified. The teens were not
in the same grade but shared
friends in common.
Loudoun County Deputy
Commonwealth’s Attorney Bar-
ry A. Zweig said in court that the
teens had “sexually charged”
conversations on the social me-
dia app Discord in the days
leading up to the assault.
Zweig said the boy repeatedly
asked the girl to engage in a
particular sex act, b ut she re-
buffed him each time. The day
before the assault, Zweig said,
the victim had been hospitalized
because of a health condition
that made her weak, and the
defendant “utilized her physical
helplessness” to take advantage
of her.
The same youth also has been
accused in an Oct. 6 alleged
sexual assault at Broad Run
High School in Ashburn, author-
ities have said.
In an Oct. 7 news release, the
sheriff’s office outlined the alle-
gations, saying a 15-year-old
male student had “forced the
victim into an empty classroom
where he held her against her
will and inappropriately
touched her.”
The family of the victim in the
Stone Bridge High School as-
sault said they are gratified by
the outcome of the case.
“No one should have to endure
what this family has endured,
and now their focus is complete-
ly upon their daughter’s health
and safety as she progresses for-
ward with her life,” the family
said in a statement.
[email protected]p.m. on the date of the assault.
She testified they had not explic-
itly discussed having sex before-
hand.
The teen testified she arrived
first and chose to go in the girls’
bathroom because the two had
always met in the girls’ bath-
rooms in the past. When the boy
arrived, the teen testified, he
came into the stall for the dis-
abled that she was in and locked
the door.
The two talked before, the girl
testified, the boy began grabbing
her neck and other parts of her
body in a sexual manner. She
testified she told her attacker
she was not in the mood for sex,
but he forced himself on her.
“He flipped me over,” the girl
testified. “I was on the ground
and couldn’t move and he sexu-
ally assaulted me.”
The attack stopped only when
someone came in the bathroom
and startled the defendant, the
victim testified. The girl testified
that a second sexual assault oc-
curred a little later. The judge
found there was sufficient evi-
dence to find the defendant had
forced the girl into two sex acts.
The Washington Post general-
ly does not name victims of
sexual assault and is not identi-
fying the girl or her parents. The
Post also generally does not
iden tify defendants charged as
juveniles.
The defendant’s attorney Wil-
liam Mann said in his opening
statement that the encounter
between the two teens was con-
sensual, just like the ones that
had occurred on two previous
occasions.
“They discussed sex regular-
ly,” Mann said. “The encounter
was just like it was before.”
The defendant did not testify
during the trial, but prosecutors
played interviews he gave detec-
tives investigating the case dur-
ing which he acknowledged
“messing up” and said he did not
intend to perform one sex act
with the victim and said he
LOUDOUN FROM B1
Judge sustains charges
in bathroom assault
BY KATIE METTLER
AND PAUL DUGGANA federal judge decided Mon-
day that he will consider adding a
“terrorism enhancement” to the
prison terms of two white suprem-
acists who prosecutors said plot-
ted to carry out deadly violence at
a Virginia guns-rights rally last
year to provoke what one of them
called “a full-blown civil war.”
Patrik Mathews, 29, and Brian
Lemley Jr., 35, pleaded guilty to
firearms- and immigration-relat-
ed charges in U.S. District Court in
Greenbelt and are scheduled to be
sentenced Thursday. After hours
of legal arguments Monday, Judge
Theodore D. Chuang sided with
prosecutors, ruling that the two
can be sentenced to prison terms
that are longer than the normal
maximums for their admitted of-
fenses.
Although Chuang — over the
objection of defense lawyers —
agreed that a terrorism enhance-
ment, allowed by federal law,
could be applied in this case, he
seemed skeptical of the 25-year
terms recommended by the U.S.
attorney’s of fice in Maryland.
That would be a significant in-
crease over typical sentences for
the crimes to which Mathews and
Lemley pleaded guilty in June.
Attorneys for the men argued
that their clients should be pun-
ished only for the crimes they
admitted to, not for ideas they
discussed but never carried out.
Neither man will learn his sen-
tence until Thursday.
Mathews, a Canadian national,
and Lemley, of Elkton, who are
both members of a white suprem-
acist group called “the Base,” were
arrested in January 2020, just
days before a large-scale gun-
rights demonstration at the Vir-
ginia Capitol in Richmond.
In the months leading up to the
rally, using electronic eavesdrop-
ping and other surveillance tech-
niques, federal agents said, they
uncovered a plan by the men to
secretly wreak havoc at the dem-
onstration, hoping that partici-
pants would respond with evenmore mayhem.
According to court filings,
“Lemley discussed using a thermal
imaging scope a ffixed to his rifle to
conduct ambush attacks,” stating,
“I literally need, I need to claim my
first victim.... It’s so unfair what I
can do to people with that.”
Authorities said Mathews re-
plied that “tons of guys” at the
gathering “should be radicalized
enough to know that all you gotta
do is start making things go
wrong” and the rally can spiral
into “full-blown civil war.”
An undercover federal agent,
posing as an older member of the
Base, also recorded the men talk-
ing about establishing a base camp
in the Shenandoah Forest where
they could coordinate an eventual
overthrow of the government.
As it turned out, the rally took
place peacefully amid heavy secu-
rity.
A terrorism enhancement is
sometimes used in cases of appar-
ent domestic terrorism. That is
because there is no federal statute
defining such terrorism as a dis-tinct crime itself. Instead, defen-
dants are typically prosecuted
only for the individual offenses
that make up an apparent terror-
ist conspiracy, such as firearms
violations.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thom-
as Windom argued M onday that
the enhancement should apply in
this case because Mathews and
Lemley purchased one gun and
built another illegally; they
s tockpiled ammunition, thermal
scopes and other g ear; and they
discussed shooting police officers
in Richmond in an attempt to sow
chaos and destabilize the govern-
ment.
When the Justice Department
announced the men’s charges,
fede ral prosecutors said the men
had planned to spark a “race war”
at the rally.
Mathews pleaded guilty to
transporting a firearm and am-
munition in interstate commerce
with intent to commit a felony and
being an alien in possession of a
firearm and ammunition. Lemley
pleaded guilty to similar charges,as well as transporting and har-
boring an alien, meaning
Mathews.
Public defender Ned Smock,
Lemley’s attorney, told the judge
that prosecutors have painted
Lemley and Mathews as sophisti-
cated operators. In fact, Smock
said, their conversations were
likely no more than unrealistic
musings and violent ideations.
Smock noted that in one con-
versation the men mentioned
they might skip the Virginia rally
and instead travel to Michigan for
a gathering of the Base.
He told the judge that the gov-
ernment was “relying on talk.”
But Chuang disagreed.
“This was not just talk,” the
judge said during his ruling.
“There was intent.”
A third man in the case, Wil-
liam G. Bilbrough IV, now 21, was
sentenced to five years in prison in
December after pleading guilty to
two counts of transporting and
harboring an alien.
[email protected]
[email protected]THE REGIONJudge mulls ‘terrorism enhancement’
U.S. D ISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND
Patrik Mathews, left, and Brian Lemley Jr. ar e seen in this surveillance video leaving a s tore in
Delaware where they purchased ammunition and paper shooting targets on Jan. 1, 2020.BY CHRISTINE CONDONThis time last year, Jason Wil-
ford was preparing to bring his
farm-grown oysters to a Thanks-
giving pop-up sale in Easton.
Events like that one were
something of a lifeline for Wil-
ford, a newcomer to the industry.
With the coronavirus pandemic
raging as the weather grew cold-
er in the fall of 2020, many
seafood restaurants were closed
or offered only carryout. There
was practically nowhere for his
first batch of hand-raised oysters
to go.
Experts say covid-19 d e-
pressed demand for oysters, in
part because shucking them
wasn’t popular among diners
looking for quick to-go meals.
That sank prices for harvesters
on the Chesapeake Bay.
This year, aquaculture farm-
ers such as Wilford and those in
the rest of the oyster industry —
watermen, seafood restaurants
and distributors — are hoping
for a rebound in demand.
“I treated this past summer as
my first year of coming to mar-
ket,” said Wilford, owner of Pi-
rates Cove Oyster Co. in
Dorchester County. “I was telling
people I was repeating first
grade.”
And thus far, most signs point
in the right direction. The latest
figures show a strong population
of market-size oysters in the
Chesapeake Bay, and booming
spat, or larvae, counts, particu-
larly in the Choptank River and
Tangier Sound. The data was
encouraging enough that fishery
managers decided to allow wild
harvesting five days a week this
fall instead of four.
Prices seem to be rebounding,
too. During last year’s pandemic-
addled season, oysters harvested
from the bay typically cost dis-
tributors about $30 a bushel,
down from $40 the year before.
This year, the average is up to
about $35 a bushel, said Chris
Judy, shellfish director for Mary-
land’s Department of Natural
Resources.
And with about 85 percent of
the state’s adult population vac-
cinated against the coronavirus,
according to the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention,
Marylanders seem keen to re-
turn to oyster bars and seafood
counters for dozens and bushels.
“Usually, about this time, we
start to slow down,” said Kim
Gardner, owner of L.P. Steamers
seafood restaurant in Baltimore.
“It’s still just as busy as summer.”
During a recent sunny after-noon, the dining room and pic-
nic tables outdoors were popu-
lated by travelers from near and
far, determined to crack crabs
and slurp shellfish, Maryland
style.
David Yi and his wife, Han-
nah, both from Bergen County,
N.J., o rdered oysters at the res-
taurant as part of their final stop
on a road trip that began on the
West Coast.
During the pandemic, the cou-
ple didn’t order oysters or other
seafood meals to go. They’re just
fresher in a restaurant, David Yi
said. And the atmosphere cer-
tainly adds to the experience.But not every establishment is
experiencing a revival of de-
mand just yet.
At Faidley’s Seafood in Lexing-
ton Market downtown, business
hasn’t quite returned to pre-pan-
demic levels, said Damye Hahn,
whose parents own the restau-
rant. She chalks it up to higher
prices for gas and other goods,
which could leave consumers
wary of spending on delicacies
such as o ysters.
But she’s optimistic business
will pick up during the holiday
season, with Marylanders re-
turning to larger gatherings of
family and friends, toting oys-ters for appetizers and stuffing.
“People did not entertain last
year the same way, but they came
in and got smaller amounts,”
Hahn said. “Whereas usually on
the holidays, people would buy
bushels or a half-bushel because
they’d have a Thanksgiving party
or they’d have a Christmas party... and having raw oysters would
be part of their appetizers.”
Last year, when carryout was
the only option, Faidley’s and
other seafood locales shucked
to-go oysters for customers in an
effort to reel them in. While the
supply of oysters was there, the
demand just wasn’t the same.
“We got off the mat this year,
but we didn’t come roaring back
in my estimation,” said Wilford
of Pirates Cove.
When Wilford planted his first
round of 250,000 oysters in 2019,
he’d planned to raise a million
oysters a year by his third batch
in 2021. Instead, he’s planted
250,000 each year.
“It’s de finitely planning for
the un-plannable,” he said.
Supply chain and labor strug-
gles haven’t helped, he added.
He’s lost some restaurant clients
who decided not to carry oysters
because of the work and know-
how required to prepare them.
Luckily, Mother Nature seems
to be on the industry’s side.
Baywide oyster surveys con-
ducted by the state last year
found the highest number of
spat, oysters that are less than a
year old, since 1999. The number
of market-size oysters was the
third-highest since 1999. The
prevalence of disease was the
lowest since 1990, when the De-
partment of Natural Resources
started measuring it, DNR’s Judy
said.
A comprehensive report about
the data, usually out during the
summer, is still being reviewed,
Judy said. It’s likely to be re-
leased in the next week.
“This season is going to be
very much like last season. Har-
vest should be strong,” Judy said.
“Covid had impacts on last sea-
son’s harvest, both in terms of
demand, availability, the ability
to eat out and also the price.
Obviously, we’re hoping this year
is much better because restau-
rants are open, people are going
out again and we’re looking for-
ward to a better situation than
last year.”
DNR flagged six regions on its
survey as experiencing overfish-
ing. In areas such as the Chop-
tank River and Tangier Sound,
where oysters were abundant,
watermen hauled out more than
was sustainable, Judy said. Still,
it’s an improvement from two
years ago, when 19 regions were
labeled as such, Judy said.
But it’s a c oncern that over-
harvesting is happening in the
same areas where the most baby
oysters are growing, said Allison
Colden, Maryland fisheries sci-
entist for the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation. As watermen trawl
the bottom for oysters 3 inches
or longer, they’ll catch younger
ones in the process and toss
them back into the bay. But those
oysters could be damaged along
the way.
“We want to make sure that we
don’t squander the gift that
Mother Nature has given us in a
good spat set this year by causing
a lot of mortality in those oys-
ters,” Colden said.
Implementing harvest quotas
baywide or in specific areas of
concern could help ensure more
of those spat grow to adulthood,
she said.
In the meantime, watermen
on the Chesapeake are excited
about the return to more fre-
quent harvesting, said Robert T.
Brown, president of the Mary-
land Watermen’s Association.
“They’re glad to be able to get
back to work five days a week,”
Brown said.
— Baltimore SunMARYLAND
Oysters, and customers who love them, e xpected to be plentiful this season
KARL MERTON FERRON/BALTIMORE SUN
Dylan Dovel, l eft, and David Kroh shuck oysters at Baltimore’s L.P. Steamers. “Usually, about this
time, we start to slow down,” said Kim Gardner, the restaurant’s owner. “It’s still just as busy as
summer.” And the latest figures show a strong population of Chesapeake oysters to feed the masses.S0129-6x2Retropolis
Stories of the past, rediscovered.washingtonpost.com/retropolis