Men charged with rape of Broward woman get probation. The victim wanted her day in court
Two men charged with raping a woman they met on a dating app two years ago and posting video of the encounter on a popular pornographic website received plea deals Friday that were questioned by the judge and outraged the victim - whose attorney asked the court to quash the agreement.
Bendjy Charles, 24 and Michelson Romelus, 27, were facing sexual battery counts and charges of illegally distributing obscene material that could have landed them in prison for up to 93 years. Instead, the two received one year of probation and have been barred from posting material on social media sites. They also are required to complete 100 hours of community service.
Before signing off on the agreement, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Milton Hirsch questioned Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Lisa Wyrsch about the “favorable plea agreements,” then issued a stern warning to Charles and Romelus, who posted their encounter with the then-19-year-old woman on OnlyFans.
“For the next year you’re on probation,” said the judge. “That means you belong to me.”
Under questioning from Hirsch, Wyrsch said she discussed the case with her supervisors, who determined the charges couldn’t be proven “beyond a reasonable doubt.” The prosecutor also told the judge that the state had difficulties dealing with the victim during a pre-trial meeting.
Wyrsch called their discussion with the woman, “not productive.”
Outside the courtroom after the hearing, the woman’s attorney Joshua Novak disputed Wyrsch’s account. He said the prosecutor had been “abusive” toward his client during pre-trial interviews, causing her to cry and leave a virtual meeting. A trial was to begin May 6. But Novak said he received a call Monday morning saying an agreement had been reached.
“We offered to prep her for trial,” he said. “We were told there was a plea.”
Before Novak addressed reporters outside the courtroom, Charles’ attorney Salvino Jauregui claimed the evidence was clear and that the sex between his client, Romelus and the woman was consensual. He said he had no recollection of the woman saying “no” and trying to fight off the men at any point during the video - facts strongly refuted by Novak.
“My client says ‘no’ and she pushes them off,” Novak said.
The Miami Herald had no way of confirming any of the claims. The disputed video has been removed from the OnlyFans site.
Victim thought she was going to a party
Friday’s testy hearing was the latest salvo in a two-year battle between Charles and Romelus and the woman, who has not been named. The men were originally arrested in July 2022, almost three months after their encounter with the woman. She subsequently filed a civil lawsuit in October in Broward County against the men and Fenix Internet LLC, the parent of OnlyFans.
In the civil lawsuit, where she is listed as Jane Doe, she’s asking for more than $30,000 and claiming the men and the website profited from sex trafficking. She also claims the men not only battered her, but intentionally inflicted emotional distress. And she’s demanding a jury trial. The case had been put on hold until the criminal matter was resolved.
According to police and witnesses, Charles and Romelus met the woman on April 29, 2022 on the dating app BLK, described as a site for single Black men and women to meet. They all agreed to meet at the woman’s home at 2 a.m., before going to where the men lived for a “social gathering.”
Once there, the woman told police, the two men raped her vaginally and anally, then forced her to perform oral sex. When she pushed them off in the living room, she claimed they continued to force her to have sex in a bedroom. She also told police she never gave them permission to film her. And she said the men uploaded the video to their OnlyFans page and sold it for profit. Five days later she contacted police.
They’re ‘devils’ and ‘predators’ and I’m the prey”
During the hearing and before Hirsch accepted the plea deal, Novak read a lengthy letter he said his client wrote for the court. It was so long that Hirsch angrily interrupted him at one point, before allowing Novak to continue.
In the letter, the woman calls the men “devils” and “predators” who took advantage of her. She said she has since lost social skills and trust in people. She also said a day after the encounter a friend stopped her from jumping out of a moving vehicle on Florida’s Turnpike.
“I must have been the cutest clown on the camera to them,” the woman wrote. “I never said ‘yes.’ I never consented. Eye contact is not yes. When I said ‘get the f... off me, I meant it.”
