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Abduction and sexual battery charges were previously dropped against Hien The Dinh, 21, after a judge declined to find probable cause.
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — A Stafford man linked to a string of assaults against women and children across Northern Virginia has been charged again in connection with an alleged 2023 attack in Fairfax County just weeks after pleading guilty to two other assaults in Prince William County.
Hien The Dinh, 21, has been in custody since June after a judge in Henrico County revoked his probation. Dinh pleaded guilty in 2022 to two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery in connection with assaults near Douglas Southall Freeman High School in Henrico. He was sentenced to a year in jail with 11 months suspended on both counts but was ordered in June to serve the full sentence.
Since 2022, police have linked Dinh to multiple assaults in Fairfax, Prince William and Loudoun Counties. In July 2023, Dinh was charged in Fairfax County with felony abduction with intent to defile and sexual battery for allegedly following a woman and then grabbing her from behind and touching her inappropriately. According to court documents, Dinh allegedly placed his arm around the woman’s neck to hold her in place as her mother, who was walking with her, turned to react.
During a preliminary hearing last year, the 23-year-old woman said she was pushing her younger sibling’s stroller when the attack happened.
“I was paralyzed,” she said. “My only reaction was to scream and not let go of my brother’s stroller. I was scared.”
Those charges were dropped in September 2023 after a Fairfax County judge found there wasn’t sufficient probable cause due to a lack of identification of Dinh as the alleged attacker.
That same month, however, Dinh was indicted in Prince William County on felony charges for assaults on two 12-year-old girls in May 2022. Two months later, he was charged in Loudoun County with felony sexual battery on the campus of Northern Virginia Community College.
Dinh pleaded guilty in January to misdemeanor assault and battery in the Loudoun County case. Earlier this month, he entered a separate guilty plea to two felony counts of child abuse and a misdemeanor charge of sexual battery in Prince William County. As part of his conviction, Dinh was ordered to register as a sex offender.
Two days after his guilty plea in Prince William County, a new warrant for his arrest was served in connection with the alleged 2023 assault in Fairfax County. Dinh now faces a single count of misdemeanor assault and battery. He was originally scheduled to appear for arraignment on Monday, but that hearing was continued.
Dinh’s next scheduled court appearance is Nov. 21 in Fairfax County. He’s also expected to appear in January for hearings in both his Prince William and Loudoun County cases.
Conviction of child abuse, a class six felony in Virginia, carries a mandatory minimum sentence of one year in prison and a maximum of five years. Sexual battery is a class one misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail.
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