Man, Woman Face Fed Fraud Charges Over Sexual Assault Case

KANSAS CITY, MO -- A metro man and a woman are facing federal charges for allegedly conspiring to stage a brutal sexual assault in a Waldo neighborhood in a scheme to increase their chances of winning a sexual harassment suit, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.

Julie R. Bernet, 39, of Bucyrus, Kansas, and Gordon F. Reabe, Jr., 51, of Lee's Summit, face federal wire fraud charges in connection to the incident. A third woman who prosecutors say helped come up with the scheme, Lindsey Crawford, 23, of Kansas City, was not charged.

According to an affidavit that was filed in support of the federal criminal complaint, Bernet and Crawford hired Reabe to stage an attack. They offered to pay Reabe $100,000, the affidavit says, to physically assault both of them and to sexually assault Crawford. When Reabe carried out the attack, assaulting the women as planned in Crawford's garage, they allegedly filed a fraudulent report with the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department.

Prosecutors allege that Bernet and Crawford staged the attack in order to force a higher settlement in a sexual harassment lawsuit, the affidavit says. Bernet and Crawford filed a civil lawsuit against former employer Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City on March 10, 2008, citing gender discrimination, sexual harassment, hostile work environment and retaliation.

According to the affidavit, Bernet and Crawford discussed several ideas, including a fraudulent scenario that would include a staged assault against both women in order to improve the settlement value of their sexual harassment lawsuit,

Prosecutors say that on November 24, 2008, Bernet and Crawford met Reabe at The Range, a restaurant located in Harrah's Casino, where they allegedly made plans for Reabe to actually assault Bernet and Crawford.

According to the affidavit, Bernet and Crawford agreed to pay Reabe $50,000 each, for a total of $100,000, if the settlement of their law suit was more than $1.5 million. Reabe suggested that following the assault, in order to make it appear more realistic, that he would start the car and close the door to the garage in order to make it appear to police that there was an attempted murder.

Prosecutors say that the next day, November 25, 2008, Bernet and Crawford met Reabe at Loose Park to finalize the plans. They allegedly agreed that Reabe would physically assault both women and sexually assault Crawford.

Prosecutors allege that Crawford agreed to a sexual assault, but only if she was knocked unconscious beforehand.

Bernet and Crawford then drove to Crawford's residence, the affidavit says, where Crawford changed into a skirt for the purpose of making it easier to facilitate the sexual assault. Bernet and Crawford then allegedly each drank a beer from a glass bottle, placing the empty bottles on the floor inside the garage for Reabe to use during the attack.

According to the affidavit, Bernet and Crawford went shopping at Town Center Plaza in Overland Park, Kan., then met Reabe for dinner at Tower Park restaurant. Reabe allegedly told the women he was going to purchase a ticket to! the Kansas University basketball game at the Sprint Center and then open a tab at McFadden's Sports Saloon in order to establish an alibi.

Prosecutors say Crawford then drove Bernet and Reabe to her home as they continued discussing the assault. Reabe informed the women that he would have to inflict actual physical damage to both of them if the assault were going to appear realistic. When Crawford approached her residence, Reabe laid down in the seat to avoid being seen. Crawford pulled her car into the garage and closed the garage door.

According to the affidavit, when they got out of the car, Crawford allowed Reabe to duct tape her mouth and hands. Crawford turned to face the car, and Reabe hit her in the head with one of the tools he had brought with him. Crawford did not lose consciousness so Reabe struck her again, causing her to fall to the floor.

Crawford was still conscious, the affidavit says, as Bernet began directing Reabe during the physical assault against Crawford to also sexually assault Crawford with a beer bottle. Prosecutors say Reabe followed Bernet's instructions during the assault. As Crawford moved around in an effort to stop the assault, Reabe told Bernet that they needed to duct tape her legs because she was moving around too much. After Crawford's legs were bound with duct tape, Bernet continued to direct Reabe in where to hit Crawford.

Reabe then covered Bernet's mouth with duct tape, the affidavit says. As she faced the car, Reabe hit her from behind with a beer bottle, causing her to fall to the ground and lose consciousness. When she awoke, Bernet had duct tape around her hands and was lying on the ground looking under the car, where she could see Reabe sexually assault Crawford.

Reabe allegedly returned to the other side of the car and hit Bernet in the leg a couple of times. Reabe then started Crawford's car, turned the lights out, and left the garage through the side door, closing it as he left.

Bernet then contacted the neighbors across the street, who called the police. Bernet told the officers that two masked men accosted her and Crawford, who denied any memory of the attack. Both women told police that they believed this assault was related to their pending sexual harassment lawsuit.

A multi-jurisdictional investigation was launched by the Kansas City Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

A preliminary hearing for Bernet is set for January 27th, while a hearing date for Reabe, who was arrested in Salt Lake City while en route to Las Vegas, has not yet been set.

SOURCE

And no, I do not have any idea why Crawford was not charged as an accomplice in this scheme.

They should all be charged. If it was up to me, they would all be dead. Why should our tax dollars be wasted supporting trash like this. I've always said that women should be held accountable if they do something wrong. Like these female teachers that rape their underage male students. Many of you see no problem with it while I say she's a pedophile and should be treated like a man who raped his female students.

Women and children are abused and raped every single day all over the world with nothing much being done. Then you see whores like this one which you linked to who are faking being raped for money. It's women like them that give other women a bad name.

1. Pedophiles are sexually attracted to children, not teenagers.
2. Every teenage guy dreams of fucking his teacher.
3. Every woman is a whore, yourself included Darrah, so stop acting like you are on high moral ground.

To be fair, Darrah is quick to insert her unique perspective into virtually every single thread, repeatedly stating that whatever a woman's problems are, they can be ascribed to a negative male presence in their life/past.

Empiraclly, that makes her someone with a lot of anger towards men, which may be a trait she shares with a lot of feminists, but that alone doesn't qualify her to be one.

Sorry dude but whores do lie. You'll learn the hard way.