Man pleads guilty in staged Waldo sexual assault
A man hired by two women to physically assault them — and sexually assault one of them — in order to defraud a car dealership that the women were suing for sexual harassment pleaded guilty to wire fraud conspiracy in federal court this morning.
Gordon F. Reabe Jr, of Lee’s Summit, agreed to beat up Julie R. Bernet and and sexually assault Lindsey D. Crawford for $100,000 as part of a scheme to milk the women’s former employer, Mercedes-Benz of Kansas City (as well as Soave Automotive Group, Inc., T.E.N. Investments, Inc., and Soave Enterprises, LLC), for a higher settlement in a sexual harassment lawsuit that the two had filed.
Reabe, 52, carried out the plan on November 25, 2008, in Crawford’s garage in Waldo. According to charges
that were filed, Crawford agreed to let Reabe sexually assault her, but
only if she was knocked unconscious (which didn’t go as planned; read the details here).
After the assault, Bernet and Crawford filed a false police report, claiming two masked men attacked them.
The plot fell apart when Reabe hired a neighbor
to go to the dealership and make a threatening call to
Bernet. But the neighbor used
his personal cell phone. When Bernet reported the call to the Kansas City
Police Department, the FBI traced the call to the neighbor.
Bernet, 39, and Crawford, 23, both pleaded guilty to their roles in the plot earlier this year.
Reabe’s sentencing hasn’t been scheduled yet (waiting on a pre-sentence investigation) but he faces five years in federal prison without parole and a $250,000 fine.
