US embassy employee in Burkina Faso accused of child sexual abuse

The husband of a U.S. diplomat in Burkina Faso has been indicted by a federal grand jury for sexually abusing children for a year at the couple's assigned residence by the U.S. Embassy in Ouagadougou.

Fode Sitafa Mara, 39, who also worked at the embassy, ​​was charged with five counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor, one count of coercion and incitement and one count of obstruction to justice.

In court documents filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorneys' Office in Maryland allege that Mara met the children, two Burkinabè girls ages 13 and 15, in the Ouagadougou neighborhood where the couple had been placed during his wife's two years. one-year mission for the United States Agency for International Development.

The girls were friends with the American family who previously lived in Maras' embassy-assigned house, and they also became friends with Mara and his wife shortly after their arrival in August 2022, according to court documents.

The girls would later tell investigators that Mara began frequently abusing them from the second time they met him, according to court filings, by sending the girls sexually explicit messages on the phones he had for them. purchased and giving them money or gifts.

Mara appeared Friday before a judge in U.S. District Court in Maryland, who ruled he would be held without bail while awaiting trial. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland requested pretrial detention for Mara because, prosecutors wrote, he poses a serious flight risk and danger to the community and is likely to attempt to obstruct justice.

The defendant's crimes are as serious as any that can be alleged, prosecutors wrote in their motion arguing for his detention. They stand out even in the context of child exploitation crimes. Mr. Mara forcibly raped two children repeatedly for over a year.

Mara's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did USAID. In a statement, a State Department official declined to comment on the matter due to the ongoing investigation, but confirmed that Mara was working as a support staff member at the Burkina Faso embassy at the time of her arrest.

Mara is a U.S. citizen who previously lived in Takoma Park, Maryland, according to the indictment. In the United States, federal prosecutors have jurisdiction over this case because of the location where the alleged abuse allegedly occurred. If convicted, Mara faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years in prison, but could be sentenced to life in prison, prosecutors said.

The alleged abuse took place from November 2022 to November 2023, prosecutors said.

U.S. authorities were alerted that Mara might abuse the girls in October 2023, according to court documents, when a guard assigned to the couple's embassy residence told investigators at the U.S. Embassy's regional security office that he and the maid had seen Mara bring the girls home when Mara's wife was away. The girls stayed inside with Mara, the guard said, and sometimes left upset, as if they had changed clothes or taken a shower.

In a separate interview, according to court documents, the housekeeper told authorities that she saw Mara touching one of the girls and saw him alone with them in the rooms. On October 25, 2023, the day before Mara and his wife left for an extended vacation in Vietnam, security guard logs at Maras' embassy residence showed that Mara and one of the daughters were alone at the inside the house, prosecutors claim in court. documents. The housekeeper said her quarters had been disturbed and a condom was in the toilet. The girl later told authorities that Mara assaulted her after she said, “I want you before I travel,” according to court filings.

When Mara returned from his Vietnam vacation, investigators approached him at the U.S. Embassy, ​​where he agreed to be interviewed and consented to authorities searching his personal and work cell phones, according to filings. by prosecutors. Investigators found sexually explicit WhatsApp messages with one of the girls, according to court documents, and eventually discovered an internet search history on Maras devices linked to sexually explicit material involving other girls early in the year. 'adolescence.

Prosecutors say that immediately after her interview with investigators, Mara asked the housekeeper to tell authorities she was having an affair with him; she said she would not lie for him and reported the conversation to embassy security. That same day, according to court filings, Mara also brought one of the girls to his house while his wife was away. He then confiscated the cell phones he bought from the girls, prosecutors said; these devices were not found.

U.S. Attorney Erek Barron said in a statement that the case was investigated as part of Project Safe Childhood, a Justice Department initiative launched in 2006 designed to combat child abuse and sexual exploitation of children through partnerships between local, state and federal law enforcement. Agencies involved in the case included the Diplomatic Security Service Office of Special Investigations; USAID Office of Inspector General; and Homeland Security Investigations.

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