Two men accused of raping the same woman within the span of an hour on Sept. 11 remain in jail and are awaiting trial.
Jorge Calderon Nunez, 30, is charged with sexual battery and burglary with battery. Court records are sealed for the sexual battery charge, but the records for the burglary charge show Nunez entered a written plea of not guilty during his Oct. 14 arraignment, which took place via Zoom from the Stock Island jail with the presence of a Spanish interpreter.
Nunez is scheduled for pretrial hearings for both charges on Nov. 30 in front of Judge Mark Wilson. His trial date has been set for Dec. 13, according to court records.
Kerry “Calvin” Gasag, 37, is charged with sexual battery, false imprisonment and tampering with evidence. His court records are sealed, but he, too, has a pre-trial hearing scheduled for Nov. 30, according to court documents.
What happened?
The anguished story of the Key West tourist circulated globally on social media, where headlines stated that a man rescued a woman from a rapist, only to attack her himself behind Key West’s most iconic landmark.
The woman reportedly walked from her hotel to Duval Street, where she had a few drinks at a sports bar. She told police her memory was foggy, but shortly after midnight on Sept. 11 on Whitehead Street, she allegedly accepted a ride from a man in a silver SUV, later identified as Nunez. The woman later told police she quickly realized she was “in a bad situation,” and demanded to be let out of the car.
The victim told police Nunez instead pulled her to the ground outside of his car and raped her.
A passing Uber driver, later identified as Gasag, reportedly saw and halted the attack on Fleming Street, offering to take the woman back to her hotel.
During that encounter, the woman’s phone records a seven-minute video that records Gasag asking the woman if she wanted to have sex and telling her he could have had sex with her “back in the bushes.”
Gasag then reportedly drove to the Southernmost Point buoy, took the woman’s phone, dragged her behind the monument and allegedly sexually assaulted her. The woman’s phone was later found in a planter in front of a nearby timeshare resort. Police interviewed her at her hotel and took her to Lower Keys Medical Center, where a rape kit was completed.
Both suspects were arrested. Nunez, 30, of Key West, was suspected of the first attack, but was arrested on a prior warrant for burglary and assault while police continued the investigation. He remains in custody on a $75,000 bond for the burglary charge.
Gasag, 37, of Key West, was arrested at his home the same night for the attack that occurred at the Southernmost Point, where a webcam recorded the whole incident. Webcam footage reportedly shows Gasag dragging the woman in a headlock behind the monument, pulling his pants down and thrusting his body forward, the police report states.
The footage also captured Gasag retrieving the victim’s jean shorts from the buoy after she had sprinted away wearing only a shirt.
A police dispatcher in Boston happened to be watching the Southernmost Point webcam at the time of the attack. He called Key West Police and, according to the police report, told dispatchers in Key West, “I think I’m watching a rape in progress.”
Officers arrived within minutes and found the victim, who was stopped and helped by people at a neighboring guest house who had heard her yelling. Dispatchers also alerted the officers to the presence of the webcam footage.
Gasag was arrested a short time later at his home in Santa Clara Condominiums on Northside Drive. He admitted to being with the victim at the Southernmost Point, where they went to have “consensual sex,” but denied ever actually having sex with the woman despite webcam footage that appears to contradict his denial, the police report states.
Gasag has no prior arrests in Monroe County, other than an arrest for driving unknowingly on a suspended license, which was later cleared. The police report states he works at a retail store on Duval Street and drives for Uber. Gasag is being held in jail on a $175,000 bond.
