Stranger assaults woman, then sends roses with ‘text me’ note, DC officials say
A man accused of assaulting a woman in her home and then sending her flowers and a note calling her “cuddle buddy” and asking her to “text me” is headed to prison, Washington, D.C. officials said.
Niko Cherry, 34, from the district, was ordered to serve nearly eight years behind bars in connection with attempted second-degree burglary and fourth-degree sexual abuse in the August 2024 incident and violating his probation in a previous sexual assault case, U.S. Attorney Edward R. Martin Jr. and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said in an April 18 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to Cherry’s attorney April 22 and was awaiting a response.
A woman told police that she walked home from a wedding at about 10 or 10:30 p.m. Aug. 2 and got into bed, according to an affidavit filed in Superior Court for the District of Columbia. The woman then woke up at about 1 a.m. to “something ‘hard’ pressing into her left thigh” and then “rubbing into (her),” police wrote in the affidavit.
The woman also reported feeling “a stomach ‘under fabric,’” according to police.
The woman “sprung out of bed, ran into the bathroom, and put her contact lenses in,” police said in the affidavit.
She went back to the bedroom and didn’t see anyone in her bed, according to police. She found that “the front door was ajar,” but “it did not look tampered with, so she began to doubt what just occurred,” police said in the affidavit.
The woman texted a friend, expressing confusion and saying she was “so freaked out,” according to the affidavit.
Later in the morning, the woman found two bouquets of roses outside her apartment, according to the affidavit.
One had a note saying “cuddle buddy” and “text me!” with a phone number, the affidavit said.
Police found Cherry by texting the number and eventually arranging to meet him undercover, the affidavit said.
He confirmed via text message that he first spotted the woman walking in her neighborhood and went to her apartment about 45 minutes after she went inside, according to the affidavit.
The door was unlocked, and he took that “as an invitation to enter,” police said in the affidavit. He said the woman was sleeping, “so he jumped in bed with her and cuddled her from behind,” according to the affidavit.
Along with prison time, Cherry must register for life as a sex offender and serve five years of supervised release, officials said.
This story was originally published April 22, 2025 at 2:40 PM with the headline "Stranger assaults woman, then sends roses with ‘text me’ note, DC officials say."
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