By Nick Minock, reprinted from wjla.com, June 6th, 2025

FAIR OAKS, Va. (7News) — A man accused of groping multiple women at Fair Oaks Mall around 5 p.m. last Wednesday is behind bars. But some public safety advocates say this should have never happened, and they blame soft-on-crime prosecutors for this latest crime.

Last week, Fairfax County police say 33-year-old Gigssa Bekele Bengessa inappropriately touched women at Fair Oaks Mall and two and a half hours later, sexually assaulted a woman at Fairfax Town Center.

“This is completely preventable,” said Sean Kennedy, a member of the criminal justice advisory board for Fairfax County and President of Virginians for Safe Communities.

“Not only is it reprehensible, it should have never happened,” said Kennedy. “The women who were victimized in public here in Fairfax County should know that it is exclusively the fault of the prosecutor here in Fairfax County for their victimization. They should not have been assaulted in public in Fairfax County if not for the leniency extended to them by both the prosecutor here, Steve Descano, and the one in Arlington County.”

Bengessa was also charged with inappropriately touching a girl at a school bus stop in Fairfax City in October 2023.

33-year-old Gigssa Bekele Bengessa, of Fairfax, was charged with two counts of sexual battery, indecent exposure, obstruction of justice, and two counts of assault of law enforcement officers. (Credit: Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office)

But under Steve Descano’s leadership, a charge related to that incident was dropped, and Bengessa was released on the condition of not contacting the girl, completing mental health treatment, having good behavior, and being on probation for one year.

“This young victim was absolutely traumatized, and somehow this prosecutor’s office decided to side with the perpetrator, not the victim,” said Kennedy. “Steve Descano’s philosophy has always been leniency, first, victims last, and unfortunately, this is another incident where we see a repeat offender getting off lightly over and over again, returning to committing crimes and offenses, in this case, victimizing two women in public after he should have been held accountable. In fact, he committed other crimes that have yet to be truly reported on here in Fairfax County.”

Kennedy says this is the latest example of Descano not serving victims well.

“There’s a disturbing pattern here in Fairfax County where sex offenders get leniency and victims almost never get justice,” said Kennedy.

In Arlington County, Bengessa was charged in 2020 for hitting someone with his car.

He faced up to more than 21 years behind bars.

According to court records, two of the charges were dropped, and the third most serious charge resulted in probation for three years plus eight days behind bars, thanks to the Arlington prosecutor.

On Wednesday, 7News reached out to both the Commonwealth’s Attorneys in Fairfax County and Arlington County. Specifically, 7News asked Commonwealth’s Attorneys Steve Descano and Parisa Dehghani-Tafti to explain the dispositions in the cases and what they say in response to critics who say their offices are lenient on criminals.

As of Thursday at 5:45 pm, Descano’s office still hasn’t responded to 7News.

But at 3:11 pm on Thursday, Dehghani-Tafti sent 7News Reporter Nick Minock the following response:

“Mr. Bengessa was charged with malicious wounding (F), defrauding innkeeper (M) and destruction of property (M).

Mr. Bengessa had no prior criminal record.

The malicious wounding was amended to felony hit & run (which acknowledged the injuries)and he waived preliminary hearing on the amended charge. The malicious wounding charge was a reach. (Remember we don’t make initial charging decisions.) We indicted felony hit & run and misdemeanor reckless driving. Mr. Bengessa plead guilty to both charges and his guidelines were 1day – 6 months.

The reckless driving sentence was 90 days with 80 days suspended and a 6 month license suspension. The felony hit & run sentence was an agreed 3 year deferred disposition(298.02)with terms including:

1.Follow all terms of probation

2.Pay court costs

3.Be of general good behavior

4.Follow all treatment recommendations made pursuant to evaluation by Jami Temple, Psy.D., dated 3/19/20

5.Undergo any further mental health evaluations deemed appropriate by probation and comply with any recommendations

6.Pay restitution to the victim in the amount of $5,516.35 plus interest

7.Prohibited from driving or operating any ride-share vehicles

At the end of the 3 years, the agreement was the charge would be reduced to a misdemeanor hit & run with a $100 fine.

On July 23, 2021, the Court ACCEPTED the agreement and sentenced him accordingly.

On January 11, 2025, after a few bumps in the road on probation and return trips to court (the Court imposed 80 days of the suspended misdemeanor sentence) his case concluded. Probation said he was doing well and had used all services available on probation. As provided in the agreement, he withdrew his plea to the felony and plead guilty to the misdemeanor and was given a $100 fine which the court suspended.

Everything we did in this case was appropriate to the level of severity of the case, the history of the Defendant (no record, diagnosis of mental illness and developmental disability) the Victim’s interest in restitution (can’t pay if you’re in prison), and the public safety interest of making sure Mr. Bengessa didn’t reoffend. And he didn’t – not in a way anyone could have predicted.