Raheem Massiah Askew faces a civil rights charge tied to an alleged on-duty assault at a Newport News hotel.
NEWPORT NEWS, VA — A former Newport News police officer accused of raping an intoxicated woman while on duty pleaded not guilty Thursday in federal court and was granted conditional bond with house arrest and electronic monitoring.
Raheem Massiah Askew was indicted Wednesday by a federal grand jury on one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. Prosecutors say the charge stems from a March 14 encounter in which Askew, then a Newport News police officer, drove the woman to her hotel after a service call and sexually assaulted her in her room. The charge carries a possible life sentence if he is convicted.
The case moved from local court to federal court after Askew was first charged in Newport News with felony rape and was fired by the Police Department. Local reporting said the state charge was later nolle prossed so the federal case could proceed. In court Thursday, Askew requested a jury trial. A judge set a $5,000 conditional bond and ordered him to remain on house arrest with electronic monitoring, with his wife serving as custodian.
Federal prosecutors say the incident began at about 10:29 p.m. March 14, when the Newport News Communications Center received a call about a woman lying on the ground in a parking lot at 980 J. Clyde Morris Boulevard. Court records identify the woman as an Australian national who was in the United States for duties tied to the Australian Defense Force. Askew and another Newport News officer arrived at about 10:38 p.m., along with Newport News Fire Department emergency medical technicians. According to an affidavit, body camera video showed the woman lying on her back while speaking with officers and medical personnel. Askew asked whether she could stand, then caught her by the arm as she tried to get up. The woman told officers she had been drinking alcohol.
Investigators said officers learned the woman was staying at the Country Inn and Suites at 1069 J. Clyde Morris Boulevard. Askew offered to drive her there, and she agreed. The other officer told the woman that Askew would take her back to meet her friends. The affidavit says the woman held her hands in the air while walking toward Askew’s marked patrol vehicle and said, “Don’t shoot, please.” Askew told her he was not going to shoot her. As she got into the back of the patrol unit, Askew told her she could put her hands down. The woman said, “I’m a bit scared,” according to court records. Prosecutors say Askew then turned off his body-worn camera before getting into the patrol vehicle, a step described in court records as a violation of Newport News police policy.
Hotel video later reviewed by investigators showed Askew and the woman entering the hotel lobby at about 10:48 p.m., according to the affidavit. Askew assisted her to an elevator and onto the third floor. The two entered Room 317 at about 10:49 p.m., and Askew left the room at about 11:06 p.m., investigators said. Prosecutors allege Askew remained in the room for about 17 minutes and had sex with the woman without her consent while wearing his patrol uniform and displaying his badge of authority. In a March 24 interview with an investigator, Askew admitted that he had determined the woman was intoxicated when he first encountered her and that he could smell alcohol while she was in the back seat of his vehicle, according to the affidavit. He also admitted having vaginal intercourse with her, court records say.
About 18 minutes after Askew left the room, Newport News dispatchers received a call from a citizen who said a woman had approached in a state of undress asking for help, according to court records. Another caller reported that the woman was heavily intoxicated and naked while wandering the property, and said police had dropped her off earlier. Hotel video showed the woman leaving Room 317 nude from the waist down at about 11:09 p.m., then going to several doors on the third floor until people tried to help her. Investigators said she appeared to collapse on the floor at about 11:30 p.m. and later went to the lobby with citizens. The other officer arrived at about 11:44 p.m. and saw the woman disoriented in the parking lot, the affidavit says. She collapsed and began vomiting before being taken by ambulance to Riverside Regional Medical Center.
During the ambulance ride, the woman was nonverbal but typed notes on a tablet provided by EMTs, according to court records. Investigators said she typed that she had been raped and abducted, and indicated there may be a camera in her room. At the hospital, she told a forensic nurse she had been abducted and raped by a police officer. She also made statements that indicated confusion or fear, including a statement about being executed by Colombians, according to the affidavit. When investigators interviewed her on March 20, the woman said she remembered going to a nearby bar on March 14 but did not remember having intercourse with Askew and did not consent to sex with him.
The indictment accuses Askew of willfully depriving the woman of her constitutional right to bodily integrity while acting under color of law. It alleges the woman was incapable of appraising the nature of the conduct and physically incapable of declining participation or communicating unwillingness. The case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations Norfolk with help from the Newport News Police Department’s Special Victims Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alyson Yates and Eric Hurt are prosecuting. A federal judge will decide any sentence if Askew is convicted, after considering sentencing guidelines and other legal factors. An indictment is an accusation, and Askew is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
Newport News officials said in March that Askew had been hired in 2023 and was no longer a city police employee after the allegations surfaced. Police Chief Steve Drew said at the time that “the conduct described in these allegations is inconsistent with the values and professional standards of the Newport News Police Department.” Drew said integrity, accountability and commitment to the community are basic parts of policing. The city said it was cooperating with law enforcement while the matter moved through court. Askew’s attorney declined to comment to local media before Thursday’s hearing.
Local defense attorney Eric Korslund, who is not involved in the case, told WTKR that the federal charge may give prosecutors a broader legal path than a state rape case. “I think federal authorities in my experience they only take cases where they’re pretty certain they can get a conviction,” Korslund said. He said the allegation that Askew used police authority during the encounter is central to the federal case. “There’s an elevated duty of responsibility with certain professions,” Korslund said, adding that a police officer holds powers that an ordinary person does not have.
Askew remains charged in federal court with one count of deprivation of rights under color of law. The next key step is the scheduling of further hearings and a jury trial date in the Newport News Division of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
Author note: Last updated July 9, 2026.