Spring Break Gang Rape
Large Group Of Men Sexually Assault Unconscious Woman
Re-printed from a story at WGN TV Chicago on April 15th 2015
Delonte Cardrigues Martistee and Ryan Austin Calhoun are arrested after video of them taking part in a gang rape on a crowded beach surfaces.
BAY COUNTY, FL. – Two college students are under arrest after police found cell phone video allegedly showing the gang rape of an intoxicated teen outside a popular Panama City Beach bar during spring break while no one surrounding the rape seemed to notice.
Hundreds stood by in “broad, open daylight” as the 19-year-old woman, who appeared to be passed out on a chair behind the Spinnaker Beach Club, was sexually assaulted by one man after another, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen told AL.com.
Many watched, some even recording the gang rape with their phones — but no one tried to intervene at any point, officials said. In fact, one man tried to stop a man who was filming the rape.
Police found the video on a witness’ phone on April 2nd while investigating an unrelated shooting in Troy, Alabama and then turned it over to Panama City investigators. The attack originally happened sometime between March 10th-12th.
Two Troy University students who allegedly appeared in the gang rape video, 23-year-old Ryan Austin Calhoun, of Mobile, AL., and 22-year-old Delonte Martistee, of Bainbridge, GA., now each face charges of Sexual Battery by multiple perpetrators.
Two of the group arrested for rape, Delonte Cardrigues Martistee (left) and Ryan Austin Calhoun (right) courtesy of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our culture and our society and our young people have got to the point where obviously this is acceptable somewhere, but I will tell you it is not acceptable in Bay County,” McKeithen told the paper, saying the video was “probably one of the most disgusting, repulsive, sickening things that I have seen this year on Panama City Beach, and I have seen a lot of them.”
Police tracked down the victim, but she told detectives she didn’t remember anything the next day and thinks she may have been drugged. The victim told police she did not remember the incident well enough to report it.
"She knows something happened, but she doesn't know what happened," McKeithen said.
Panama City Beach has long been a destination for spring break revelers, but authorities are fed up with the spike in criminal activity that comes from hosting the hordes of party-goers. One official at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office compared spring break to a cancerous “tumor” that can spread to the rest of the body, affecting residents and local businesses.
Sheriff McKeithen said the investigation continues, and that additional arrests are expected.
UPDATE 10/2016:
Ryan Austin Calhoun, 23, and Delonte Martistee, 23, were sentenced to 10 years in prison, designating each as a sex offender and sexual predator under the Jessica Lunsford Act. As reported by the Panama City Herald.
References:
CNN, Panama City Gang Rape Case
WGN TV Chicago, Hundreds Watched Gang Rape
AL.com, Hundreds Watched Did Nothing
Re-printed from a story at WGN TV Chicago on April 15th 2015
Delonte Cardrigues Martistee and Ryan Austin Calhoun are arrested after video of them taking part in a gang rape on a crowded beach surfaces.
BAY COUNTY, FL. – Two college students are under arrest after police found cell phone video allegedly showing the gang rape of an intoxicated teen outside a popular Panama City Beach bar during spring break while no one surrounding the rape seemed to notice.
Hundreds stood by in “broad, open daylight” as the 19-year-old woman, who appeared to be passed out on a chair behind the Spinnaker Beach Club, was sexually assaulted by one man after another, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen told AL.com.
Many watched, some even recording the gang rape with their phones — but no one tried to intervene at any point, officials said. In fact, one man tried to stop a man who was filming the rape.
Police found the video on a witness’ phone on April 2nd while investigating an unrelated shooting in Troy, Alabama and then turned it over to Panama City investigators. The attack originally happened sometime between March 10th-12th.
Two Troy University students who allegedly appeared in the gang rape video, 23-year-old Ryan Austin Calhoun, of Mobile, AL., and 22-year-old Delonte Martistee, of Bainbridge, GA., now each face charges of Sexual Battery by multiple perpetrators.
Two of the group arrested for rape, Delonte Cardrigues Martistee (left) and Ryan Austin Calhoun (right) courtesy of the Bay County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our culture and our society and our young people have got to the point where obviously this is acceptable somewhere, but I will tell you it is not acceptable in Bay County,” McKeithen told the paper, saying the video was “probably one of the most disgusting, repulsive, sickening things that I have seen this year on Panama City Beach, and I have seen a lot of them.”
Police tracked down the victim, but she told detectives she didn’t remember anything the next day and thinks she may have been drugged. The victim told police she did not remember the incident well enough to report it.
"She knows something happened, but she doesn't know what happened," McKeithen said.
Panama City Beach has long been a destination for spring break revelers, but authorities are fed up with the spike in criminal activity that comes from hosting the hordes of party-goers. One official at the Bay County Sheriff’s Office compared spring break to a cancerous “tumor” that can spread to the rest of the body, affecting residents and local businesses.
Sheriff McKeithen said the investigation continues, and that additional arrests are expected.
UPDATE 10/2016:
Ryan Austin Calhoun, 23, and Delonte Martistee, 23, were sentenced to 10 years in prison, designating each as a sex offender and sexual predator under the Jessica Lunsford Act. As reported by the Panama City Herald.
References:
CNN, Panama City Gang Rape Case
WGN TV Chicago, Hundreds Watched Gang Rape
AL.com, Hundreds Watched Did Nothing
