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Sunday, June 29, 1997

Woman didn't know she had been raped until police showed her videotape

COLLEYVILLE (AP) - A Colleyville woman did not know she had been raped until police showed her a six-month-old videotape of her being sexually assaulted while she was unconscious, authorities say.

The assault by an acquaintance took place in her home and likely occurred after the man surreptitiously gave her Rohypnol, the so-called "date rape" pill, Colleyville police investigator Xavier Badillo said Friday.

Steven Sera, 39, of Irving, was arrested Thursday at his home after police showed the woman the tape.

"As she watched it, she was just in shock," Badillo said. "She didn't know it had happened."

In the same tape, the accused attacker is shown having sexual intercourse with one unconscious woman in Missouri and another in Arkansas. Both were naked.

Sera was charged with one count of sexual assault and placed in the Tarrant County Jail in lieu of $150,000 bond.

Officers confiscated pills labeled Rohypnol from Sera's home. Rohypnol, also known as "roofies," is an odorless and colorless tranquilizer 10 to 20 times more powerful than Valium that can be dropped into victims' drinks, causing them to pass out and have little or no memory of what happens next.

Police said they believe that Sera carried a video camera and drugs with him on all his business trips, including when he visited the Colleyville woman in December.

Investigators said Sera knew all the women. One was a 20-year-old woman in Springfield, Mo. Police said she and Missouri authorities have been alerted.

The other woman, attacked in Arkansas, is in her late 20s or early 30s, investigators said. Colleyville police said they have her name but have not found her yet.

Sera had been on business trips to Missouri in September and Arkansas in November, when the rapes there occurred, police said. He had dated one victim, but she had stopped seeing him when she learned that he was still married, police said.

Police said the tapes were found June 13 by Sera's estranged wife, who was trying to find a blank tape. She turned it over to a private investigator, who gave it to police.

"If the tape had not been discovered, the victims would never have known what happened to them," Badillo said. "The women were unconscious during the rapes."

Officers identified the women through Sera's wife and through investigators who recognized the Colleyville woman. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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