ARLINGTON, VA — A man accused of returning to Arlington House at Arlington National Cemetery a day after being cited for trespassing is being held without bond after federal prosecutors alleged he assaulted and injured a federal law enforcement officer during his second arrest.
Abraham Beeharnha Gayetaye is charged in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia with assaulting, resisting and impeding a federal law enforcement officer resulting in bodily injury, according to a criminal complaint and supporting affidavit.
Court records show Gayetaye made his initial appearance July 15 before U.S. Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick, who granted the government's request for detention and scheduled a preliminary and detention hearing for July 17.
During the July 17 hearing, prosecutors presented testimony from a federal agent, who adopted the affidavit supporting the criminal complaint as part of the government's evidence. The court found probable cause supporting the charge, continued the case for grand jury proceedings and denied Gayetaye's request for release on bond. Judge Fitzpatrick ordered him detained pending trial.
According to the affidavit filed by a U.S. Park Police Officer, Gayetaye was first arrested on July 13 after a National Park Service employee allegedly observed him on security cameras unlawfully entering Arlington House. Police cited him for trespassing under federal regulations and released him with a court date.
The following morning, July 14, the same National Park Service employee reported seeing someone inside Arlington House on security cameras after an alarm sounded around 3:35 a.m. Responding officers found Gayetaye lying in a bed inside a second-floor bedroom of the historic home, according to the affidavit.
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Investigators allege Gayetaye refused to comply after officers informed him he was under arrest. The affidavit states he resisted attempts to handcuff him, leading to a struggle inside the residence. During the confrontation, prosecutors allege Gayetaye grabbed a Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall officer by the neck and throat, causing scratches, a cut to the officer's finger, abrasions, shoulder pain and back pain. The affidavit also alleges Gayetaye pulled near the officer's duty belt where his service weapon was holstered.
The affidavit further states that additional officers eventually secured Gayetaye and placed him under arrest. It notes the investigating officer sustained scratches to his hands and wrists and that the investigation into possible injuries to other officers remains ongoing.
Under federal law, assaulting, resisting or impeding a federal officer while causing bodily injury is punishable by up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
The allegations contained in the criminal complaint and affidavit have not been proven in court. Gayetaye is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Arlington House sits on the highest hill overlooking the Potomac River and Washington, D.C., within Arlington National Cemetery, according to the cemetery's website..
Constructed between 1802 and 1818 by George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted grandson and step-grandson of President George Washington, the Greek Revival mansion was built as the nation's first memorial to Washington and housed an extensive collection of Washington family artifacts, the website said. The estate was also a working plantation built and maintained through the labor of enslaved African Americans.
The home later passed to Custis' daughter, Mary Anna Randolph Custis, and her husband, Robert E. Lee, according to Arlington National Cemetery. After Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, the Lee family left the property, which was occupied by Union forces because of its strategic location overlooking the nation's capital.
As Civil War casualties mounted, the federal government established Arlington National Cemetery on part of the estate in 1864, according to the cemetery website. Today, Arlington House is preserved by the National Park Service as a historic site that interprets the lives of the Custis and Lee families, the enslaved people who lived and worked on the property, and the origins of Arlington National Cemetery.
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