Child abuser gets life sentence
A man who raped children at a home-based daycare center in Annandale was sentenced to four life sentences plus 36 years, Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano announced Aug. 4.
Elwood Lewis Thomas, 38, of Alexandria, abused three children between 2006 and 2012 at the Happy Land daycare center in the 6400 block of Holyoke Drive. Thomas lived in that house.
He was convicted of four counts of aggravated sexual battery and two counts of object sexual penetration last year.
Related story: Sex offender arrested for abusing children at Annandale daycare center
Happy Land closed in 2012. The victims reported the abuse to an adult in 2019.
Thomas “preyed on children between the ages of 4 and 8 years old who attended a daycare run by a family member,” Descano said. “We asked that Mr. Thomas be sentenced to life in prison because of his abhorrent history of sexually abusing children.”
Thomas had previously been arrested for aggravated sexual battery of a child under 13 at Happy Land in 2012. He was convicted in 2013 and was sentenced to eight years in prison. His sentence was suspended to one year and he was ordered to serve 20 years on probation.
