A 33-year-old Herndon man who raped a woman walking home on the Washington & Old Dominion Trail in November 2024 was convicted Tuesday, Aug. 11, in Fairfax County Circuit Court and faces up to 18 years in prison.
Denis Humberto Roman Navarette pleaded guilty at a morning hearing to the rape charge stemming from the Nov. 18, 2024, attack, according to Herndon Patch. His sentencing hearing is set for 10 a.m. Dec. 11 before Judge Dontae L. Bugg.
The conviction carries particular weight for Reston residents. The W&OD Trail, a 45-mile paved path drawing more than two million users per year, passes directly through the community with a parking access point off Old Reston Avenue near Sunset Hills Road.
The attack
The victim told Herndon police she had been walking home from Jimmy's Old Town Tavern on the evening of Nov. 18, 2024, when Roman Navarette approached her on the trail and forcibly raped her, according to WTOP. Officers found Roman Navarette on the trail shortly after and he confessed, according to the Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney's office.
Then-Herndon Police Chief Maggie DeBoard said the day after the arrest in November 2024 that it was "the only stranger rape that we have had in the town in my more than 12 years as chief of police."
Released days before the attack
The timeline leading up to the assault has drawn scrutiny. Roman Navarette pleaded guilty on Nov. 13, 2024, to a Class 1 misdemeanor indecent exposure charge from an Oct. 19, 2024, offense. He was sentenced to 50 days in jail and $290 in court costs.
He served only 25 days. He was released Nov. 14, 2024, under Virginia's statutory good-behavior provisions, the Commonwealth's Attorney's office confirmed, as reported by Fox 5 DC. Four days later, he attacked the woman on the trail.
Fox 5 DC also reported, citing records, that Roman Navarette is an undocumented Honduran national and had faced multiple charges in Northern Virginia dating back to 2022, including a felony assault-on-a-law-enforcement-officer charge that was later reduced to misdemeanor simple assault.
Plea agreement and what's next
Under the plea agreement, Judge Bugg may impose up to 18 years in prison. Prosecutors said that maximum exceeds the midpoint of Virginia's sentencing guidelines for the offense. A separate abduction-with-intent-to-defile charge was not prosecuted.
Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Steve Descano said in a statement that his office reached the outcome "because the defendant poses a clear risk to public safety and cannot remain in the community."
The case was delayed for more than a year after Roman Navarette was found incompetent to stand trial. He spent much of 2025 undergoing competency restoration proceedings through the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services before the case moved to Circuit Court in May 2026.
The W&OD Trail is open daily from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Residents who witness suspicious activity on the trail can call Fairfax County Police non-emergency at 703-691-2131 or 911 in an emergency.
