Crime & Safety
'Sex Addict' Tells Rape Victims He's Sorry, Court Documents Say
A confessed rapist apologized to his victims in court this week
A Bethlehem man who met two teenage girls via Facebook – and who said he is trying to become “a follower of Christ” -- admitted to police he raped them last year during his first actual encounter with them.
The suspect, David Martinez, 20, allegedly raped one of the girls last February and the other last September. He raped the girls – one was 14, the other 17 -- on the couch inside his home at 421 Maple St., court records say.
Martinez was charged this week with rape and rape by forcible compulsion, three counts of indecent assault, two counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, two counts of sexual assault and one count of statutory sexual assault.
He was arraigned by District Judge Roy Manwaring of Bethlehem and committed to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail.
The records also say Martinez told police he has a “sex addiction problem.” He picked up one of the girls at Liberty High School and then drove her to his house, the records say.
He also issued apologies to both girls during his confessions to police. He told one of the girls:
”I pray to God you and your parents can see the person I am trying to become – a follower of Christ.”
Criminal complaints against Martinez describe the same pattern of behavior in both incidents:
He met the girls on Facebook, started exchanging text messages with them, then arranged to actually meet them. Once at his home, he would sit with them on the couch, make sexual advances, and when they resisted, he would pin them to the couch and rape them.
The complaint for the February 2012 incident, filed by city Det. Moses Miller, gives the following additional detail:
--It was only about two weeks ago, on Jan. 19, that the girl reported to police she was sexually assaulted by Martinez in February 2012. She was 14 at the time of the incident and is now 15. The complaint does not explain the time gap between the alleged rape and the girl’s recent meeting with police.
--The girl said she met Martinez on Facebook in 2012. They exchanged phone numbers and began texting each other daily. She told him she was 14.
--In February 2012, she texted the suspect, asking him to pick her up at Liberty High “because she was going to get into trouble.” The complaint does not elaborate on that statement. She said she had never physically met Martinez until he picked her up at Liberty.
-- She described what happened on the couch. She said he touched her and she told him to stop. He said, “I could make you forget about your mom and dad.”
--She described how he pinned her on the couch and forced sex on her. She started crying and telling him to stop, and he slapped her in the mouth, causing a bruised lip. He went to an upstairs bathroom and when he came down, she told him she was leaving. After she left, he texted her to “delete my number.”
--Miller met with Martinez the same day he met with the girl – Jan. 19. He denied having sex with the girl. Martinez said he tried to kiss her and she said “she didn’t want to do anything else.” He said “he immediately stopped.” He also said he became “turned off” because after awhile the girl looked like a “tomboy.”
--Martinez agreed to a polygraph test, which was scheduled for Monday (Feb. 4). The state police trooper who administered the test called Miller that day and said the suspect, in essence, had changed his story. He admitted to having sex with the girl and told the trooper he needs help because “he has a sex addiction problem.”
--Miller again talked to Martinez the next day (Tuesday, Feb. 5). His new version was essentially the same as what the girl had told police. “I wasn’t thinking clearly,” he said of the 2012 incident. “My hormones got me aggressive toward her.”
The second alleged rape occurred Sept. 22 at Martinez’s home. The victim was 17 (she’s now 18). She reported the incident to police the next day, but police did not talk to Martinez about it until Tuesday (Feb. 5), when he also talked about the previous incident, according to another complaint filed by Miller.
The girl, who said she met Martinez on Facebook in August, agreed to have him pick her up Sept. 21 at her Catasauqua home. She described Martinez’s action on the couch that culminated in the alleged rape.
In his talk with Miller on Tuesday, the suspect admitted to the rape and again said “I started to feel my hormones.” He said the girl told him to stop three times but he said he couldn’t help himself.
His apology to the girl included him saying, “I wish I never did what I did. Please accept my apology and see the good in me. I am truly sorry.”