United States of America v. Sinmi Asomuyide

Indianapolis, Indiana, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with deprivation of rights under color of law, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 242, witness tampering, in violation 18 U.S.C. 1512, and destruction of records, in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1519.

Sinmi Asomuyide, age 31, first encountered Minor #1, a 14-year-old girl, on June 30, 2024, while serving as a Kokomo Police Department (KPD) patrol officer. Earlier that day, Minor #1's father called 911 to report her as a runaway. Asomuyide and another KPD officer responded to the call and located Minor #1 at the home of another underage girl.

After taking Minor #1 into custody, Asomuyide transported her to the Kinsey Youth Center. As he entered the facility’s sallyport garage, he turned off his body-worn camera in violation of KPD policy. He then took Minor #1’s cellphone and used it to call his personal TextNow phone number before questioning her about her sexual history. During a pat-down search, Asomuyide discovered a vape pen in Minor #1’s back pocket. After entering the Youth Center, he escorted Minor #1 to a side room and told her he would contact her later to return the vape pen.

Minor #1 was eventually picked up from the Youth Center by a family friend, at the direction of her father. As she left, she sent Asomuyide the username for one of her social media accounts, and he responded by requesting her TikTok username. The two continued communicating by text message throughout the evening while Asomuyide completed the remainder of his shift, and Minor #1 remained under the impression that Asomuyide intended to return her vape pen.

Later that evening, Asoyumide took several steps to see Minor #1 while simultaneously covering his tracks. He returned to the KPD police station and requested overtime, stating that he would be finishing his paperwork from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., but instead left the station to pick up Minor #1. He arrived at the family friend’s apartment in his KPD uniform and demanded to speak to Minor #1 privately to determine where she should stay. Instead, Asoyumide handcuffed Minor #1 in the back of his squad car and drove to an empty warehouse parking lot, as shown by his squad car’s GPS data. He uncuffed the girl, moved her to the front seat and sexually assaulted her. After, Asoyumide put the handcuffs back on and drove the minor back to the apartment complex.

Minor #1 reported the assault to family members and law enforcement, prompting the Indiana State Police (ISP) to open an investigation. During a forensic examination of Asomuyide's patrol vehicle, investigators located a dried semen stain matching Asomuyide’s DNA on the center console.

Approximately one week after the assault, ISP detectives interviewed Asomuyide. During the interview, he falsely claimed that he never provided Minor #1 with his phone number, suggesting instead that she may have overheard him reciting it to a Kinsey Youth Center employee. He also falsely asserted that Minor #1 had contacted him on a work phone, even though KPD officers are not issued work phones.

A forensic examination of Asomuyide’s cell phone revealed that, within hours of the assault, he searched phrases including "how to delete text me account" and "TextNow delete account."

This is not Asomuyide’s first instance of sexual misconduct with a minor. He was previously employed as a police officer at the Portsmouth (Virginia) Police Department (PPD) and was forced to resign after an allegation that he had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old while he was off duty. When he later applied to the Kokomo Police Department, he misrepresented what he did, stating that he was forced to resign from PPD because he was “hanging out” with a 17-year-old girl who told him that she was 19.

The Defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release.