Woman Charged With Rape for Periscoping Sexual Assault
She faces forty years.
An Ohio woman who Periscoped the sexual assault of a 17-year-old is facing rape charges after a viewer reported the incident to the police. Both 18-year-old Marina Alexeevna Lonina, who Periscoped the attack, and 29-year-old Raymond Boyd Gates, the alleged attacker, are charged with “one count kidnapping, two counts of rape, one county of sexual battery, three counts of pandering sexually-oriented material involving a minor,” according to KXAN. In addition, Lovina has been indicted on two counts of “illegal use of minor in nudity oriented material or performance,” based on pictures taken of the victim the day before the alleged assault.
With minimal details public, it’s difficult to determine how closely involved Lovina was in the attack or whether the charges stem from her role in broadcasting the assault. News reports do not indicate that Lovina made physical contact with the alleged victim, suggesting that the rape charge is the result of participating through the act of Periscoping.
“If Gates and Lonina are convicted for these charges, they each face a potential sentence in excess of forty years in prison” Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien told KXAN.
Despite the charges related to the alleged victim’s minor status, Ohio’s age of consent is 16, meaning the rape charges will not be of a statutory nature. Federal and state laws nonetheless set 18 years of age as the threshold for obscene images of an individual. So even if Lovina is acquitted of rape, she could still face serious consequences for the child pornography charges.
If Lovina had sat by and simply witnessed the alleged assault, it’s unlikely she’d face charges of any sort, even if she never called the cops. Though some states have Good Samaritan laws that impose criminal penalties for neglecting to contact law enforcement about a crime, particularly a sexual assault, Ohio does not appear to have such a statute. Lovina’s decision to Periscope the assault, in addition to any potential incriminating evidence in the actual footage, would have thus transformed her from passive observer to participant, exposing her to criminal prosecution.
The case may set a new precedent on what constitutes participation in the act of rape.
