By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 16, 2008

A Northeast Washington man under court supervision after serving a prison term for robbery was arrested yesterday, accused of sexually assaulting one girl and trying to kidnap another.

Tyrell Powell, 23, was charged with sexual assault and attempted kidnapping in a pair of incidents that occurred Wednesday off Georgia Avenue NW.

Authorities said that technology and alert case officers led to the arrest.

For the past few weeks, Powell has worn an ankle bracelet equipped with a Global Positioning System device to help authorities keep track of him. They reviewed the GPS data yesterday and placed him at the scene of both incidents, authorities said.

In the first case, a 14-year-old girl was walking at Georgia Avenue and Jefferson Street NW at 4:20 p.m. when Powell tried to force her into his car. She screamed and ran away, police said. She was not harmed.

Twenty-five minutes later, officers said, Powell approached a 15-year-old girl in a convenience store at Georgia Avenue and Webster Street, about a half-mile away. He tried to talk to her, but she ignored him. When she went outside, he led her into an alley at gunpoint and sexually assaulted her, officers said.

Police obtained a surveillance photograph from a camera at the convenience store, and local TV stations broadcast a picture of the suspect Thursday. It caught the attention of caseworkers at the D.C. Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency, which has been tracking Powell since he was released from prison in November 2005.

A community service officer, Carla Reeder-Mason, said she thought the man in the picture was Powell. She told Powell's case officer, Tigist Tarekegn. The agency checked the GPS data that put him at the scenes, authorities said.

Yesterday, Tarekegn made a scheduled visit to Powell's home, in the 2100 block of I Street NE. She noticed a car that was similar to the vehicle described by witnesses on Georgia Avenue. In a ruse to take him into custody, the agency called Powell to say that he should go to the agency's office in Northwest Washington for information on benefits he was seeking. When he arrived, he was arrested.

Leonard A. Sipes Jr., a spokesman for the agency, said that more than 400 offenders wear the GPS devices, which are about the size of a pack of cigarettes. He said that Powell received his Jan. 30 after problems had been reported. Sipes declined to describe them, citing confidentiality rules.

Powell, who also served time on a charge of making threats, was jailed last night, pending a hearing in D.C. Superior Court.