Because years
have passed since the discovery of videos allegedly showing a Windermere man raping unconscious women, prosecutors will have to prove that the statute of limitations has not passed.
Because years have passed since the discovery of videos allegedly showing a Windermere man raping unconscious women, prosecutors will have to prove that the statute of limitations has not passed to continue their case, a judge ruled Wednesday.
A woman in at least one of the videos told police she did not know she had any sexual contact with Darryl Patterson, now 51, until police showed her video of herself in early 2016. She knew she woke up naked or partially naked in Patterson’s Windermere house on two occasions between 2009 and 2012 but did not know how that happened.
“She could not have known when this crime occurred,” Assistant State Attorney Kelly Hicks said. “… When things are found out later, the defendant should not get the benefit of a statute of limitations that would let him get away with it.”
Circuit Judge Jenifer Harris ruled that prosecutors will have to prove the video was filmed after July 2, 2011, because of a change to the statute of limitations law that went into effect the day before that.
She rejected Hicks’ argument that the clock began ticking only in 2016, when the woman learned of the video and told police she never consented to any sexual activity with Patterson.
Patterson’s next court date is Jan. 10.
The investigation began when his roommate moved out in 2012 and accidentally took his attache case, records show. She found videos in it and reported them to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies realized the tapes were from Windermere and handed the case over to the small Windermere Police Department. But instead of investigating, Windermere police left the tapes sitting in a storage shed for two years.
Patterson came to police in December 2014 to report that he’d been a victim of fraud. A detective — who was new to the department — found a record of the abandoned case.
Officers got a search warrant for Patterson’s home in May 2015. They found more videos but did not know who the unconscious women in them were.
Officers eventually posted photos of the unconscious women on the department’s Facebook page and sent them to media outlets, hoping someone would recognize the women. They later took the photos down and asked news organizations to do the same, though the photos can still be found online. The Orlando Sentinel did not publish the photos.
Officers identified some of the women in the videos, records show.
Patterson faces sexual battery charges in two separate cases in Orange County. He was arrested June 1, 2016.