Twist in LI ‘ma’ beat
Vic’s kid dates suspect
A former city correction officer is due in court Monday to face attempted-murder charges in a brutal 2016 attack that left a Long Island teacher in a coma. The teacher’s daughter could be there too — to cheer him on.
That’s because former jail guard Ralph Keppler has Francesca Kiel, 20, “under his control as a financial, emotional and sexual hostage,” according to court papers filed by the victim’s family.
Arrested last month in the attempted murder of Kiel’s mother, Theresa, Keppler (inset) has pleaded not guilty.
Theresa Kiel, 56, barely survived the horrifying attack on a December night outside her Long Beach apartment. She’s been in a coma ever since, her skull crushed by a barbell, her right eye gone.
The family had objected to Francesca’s relationship with Keppler, 27, calling it abusive.
Keppler allegedly monitors the young woman’s phone and e-mail, forces her to claim her mother prostituted her, made her get breast implants and throws her out of their car if she fails to recite a list of all “the bad things her mother ever did to her.”
Keppler also stalked the mother and threw a bottle at her, Theresa Kiel claimed months before the attack.
The claims came to light in Nassau state court, where Keppler has accused Theresa Kiel and her son, Vincent, of swindling him.
The teacher and her son took $65,000 from Keppler for a dating app they were supposed to be developing, but instead blew the cash on weight-loss surgery, a luxury car and “bicep-enhancement surgery,” hair salons, auto shops, groceries and clothes, Keppler claimed in court papers.
“It would be really sad if something happened to your mother,” Keppler texted Vincent, according to court documents.
In another text, Keppler reportedly wrote: “I am enjoying your sister’s vagina tonight.”
Francesca declined to speak to The Post, said an attorney who called the accusations about her treatment bogus.
“It’s all been discredited,” said Jim Druker.
The fraud case is ongoing. The judge in December dismissed the Kiels’ accusations about Keppler and Francesca.
Keppler was home with his family during the attack, Druker has said.