A man accused of sexually assaulting a woman on the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail in Herndon in 2024 has pleaded guilty to the charge of rape.
Denis Humberto Roman Navarette, 33, pleaded guilty yesterday (Tuesday) in Fairfax County Circuit Court, according to court records. Per a plea agreement, he could serve up to 18 years in prison, which the Office of the Commonwealth’s Attorney says exceeds the midpoint of Virginia’s Criminal Sentencing Guidelines for the crime.
“My office reached this outcome because the defendant poses a clear risk to public safety and cannot remain in the community,” Fairfax Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said in a press release. “He harmed the victim immeasurably, and, by raping a stranger in a public park, has harmed everyone in our community who uses public spaces.”
The victim was walking home on the W&OD Trail after leaving a local business in the Town of Herndon, the evening of Nov. 18, when Roman Navarette approached her between Ferndale Avenue and Grace Street, Herndon police said when announcing the arrest a day later.
After she was sexually assaulted, the woman found help from a passerby on the trail who called 911 on her behalf.
Officers located Roman Navarette in a parking lot near the trail and found items belonging to the victim in his possession during an interview, then-Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard said at the time of the arrest. He was charged with rape and abduction with the intent to defile.
It was the first known case of someone being raped by a stranger on the trail in over a decade.
The case not only shocked local residents accustomed to a generally safe and popular path, it became a political lightning rod.
Roman Navarette was a Honduran national not authorized to be in the U.S., and he had been released from jail just a few days before the incident on a misdemeanor indecent exposure. While the sentence for that offense was for 50 days, Virginia law allows early releases for some misdemeanor cases if the prisoner earn credits for good behavior.
When FFXnow previously asked ICE if the agency had issued a detainer or warrant to obtain custody of Roman Navarette, a spokesperson responded that an administrative detainer was issued Nov. 26, 2024 — several days after he was arrested for the reported rape.
The ICE spokesperson didn’t mention whether Roman Navarette had been subject to any earlier detainers, despite DeBoard stating that he had “a documented history of sexual assault and exposures” in the D.C. region, dating back to 2022.
Following his arrest for the November 2024 rape, Roman Navarette was found to be incompetent to stand trial. According to a spokesperson for the commonwealth’s attorney’s office, “he spent much of the last year undergoing competency restoration proceedings via the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services.”
It’s unclear what changed, but court records show that prosecutors filed a new rape charge against Roman Navarette on May 29, and an indictment was presented to a grand jury on June 15. A status hearing was then held on July 31 indicating that a plea would soon be entered.
Roman Navarette — who has multiple spellings of his name, including Navarette Romero — is scheduled to appear in Fairfax County Circuit Court for sentencing on Dec. 11.
