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Woman Testifies Co-Worker Raped Her

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By TODD LESKANIC

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 24, 2008

  Steven Vanwart

DADE CITY - On the first day of trial Wednesday, jurors heard testimony from a 19-year-old woman who says Steven Vanwart, an acquaintance, raped her while she was pregnant last year.

"I started screaming, and he said that if I resisted he was going to hurt me," the woman said from the stand.

The Tampa Tribune is withholding the woman's name because of the nature of the allegations.

Vanwart, 42, of Land O' Lakes, is charged with two counts of sexual battery and single counts of false imprisonment and aggravated assault. He faces a maximum of 40 years in prison if found guilty as charged. Jurors are expected to begin their deliberations Friday.

In his opening statement, Assistant Public Defender Dillon Vizcarra said it was consensual sex and part of an ongoing sex-for-money exchange between Vanwart and the woman. The woman made up the rape allegations after Vanwart refused to give her $1,000 for having sex with him on Aug. 2, Vizcarra said.

"This case is about a trade," Vizcarra said. "Steven Vanwart gave the woman cash. The woman gave Steven Vanwart sex. They traded that night; they had traded before."

That wasn't the story the woman told when she took the stand. She told the jurors she went to Vanwart's travel trailer that night after she and her mother argued.

She and Vanwart had met while they were working together at Rapid Response Towing in Land O' Lakes. Vanwart lived in a travel trailer on the property, and the woman had spent time there in the weeks leading up to the incident.

They watched a movie, and she fell asleep. The woman said she woke up hours later with her hands and legs bound with zip ties and Vanwart on top of her wearing a Halloween mask. She struggled against him, she said, but thought better of it after Vanwart threatened her with a stun gun and a rope.

Vanwart raped her despite her pleas, she said, then left for about 20 minutes. When he returned, he apologized and offered her $100 to "be quiet," she said.

"I told him I didn't want anything from him," she said. "I want him behind bars, where he belongs."

During Vizcarra's cross-examination, the woman denied ever having consensual sex with Vanwart. Her answers indicated the two had at least a casual friendship and that she had spent the night in his travel trailer at least once before, though it was with a friend.

Vizcarra also asked her why she waited almost eight hours to report the incident to authorities.

Instead, she got a ride to a friend's house, then returned home and fell asleep. She called the Pasco County Sheriff's Office just before 3 p.m. that day after telling her brother what happened.

"I didn't know what to do. OK?" she said. "I was scared, and I was pregnant. OK?"

Reporter Todd Leskanic can be reached at (727) 815-1084 or tleskanic@tampatrib.com.

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