Trial of woman accused of making false sexual assault report begins Monday

The trial of Veronika Rodriguez, the Air National Guard member accused of falsely reporting a sexual assault and illegally recording the encounter with her alleged assailant, is set to begin Monday morning, May 19, with jury selection in the courtroom of Lebanon County Judge Charles Jones.

Prosecutors allege that on the evening of Jan. 8, 2023, the 26-year-old Middletown woman and fellow Guard member Fahad Pervez were found by a Fort Indiantown Gap police officer in a vehicle in the parking lot of an off-limits base building. According to the officer, neither appeared to be in distress and both said they were there to admire the view.

Three days later, prosecutors maintain, Rodriguez told FTIG police and a Guard sergeant that Pervez had sexually assaulted her and that she had recorded part of the encounter. Rodriguez agreed to a search of her cellphone, and prosecutors claim they recovered recordings and text messages showing a consensual sexual encounter.

Rodriguez is charged with false reports to law enforcement authorities, a misdemeanor, and two felony counts of violating Pennsylvania’s wiretap act, which forbids the recording of most conversations without the consent of both parties.

No charges have been filed against Pervez.

Read More: Judge hears pretrial arguments in Veronika Rodriguez case

Pretrial support for Rodriguez

Spurred by a PennLive report that Lebanon County has one of the lowest sex crime prosecution rates in Pennsylvania, Rodriguez supporters have conducted an aggressive and often highly personal social media campaign targeting Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf and her decision to charge Rodriguez and not Pervez.

The hub of their campaign is a Facebook group known as “Pier Hess Graf hides cop sx trafficking rings,” run by Ephrata resident Kimmy Baylor. Baylor told LebTown in a May 7 Facebook Messenger exchange that she is behind the Facebook group. Referring to Graf, Baylor stated that “[e]very single person who knows her from the past confirms she’s a sociopath and a huge racist.”

Rodriguez supporters have also started a GoFundMe campaign, which has raised over $20,000 for her defense.

Graf has accused Baylor of making over 200 harassing phone calls to the DA’s office in connection with the Rodriguez prosecution. She has referred the matter to the Pennsylvania Attorney General, who has filed 18 misdemeanor counts of harassment by communication involving “lewd, lascivious, threatening or obscene words, language, drawings or caricatures” against Baylor.

Those charges are filed in Lancaster County since prosecutors allege they originated from Baylor’s Ephrata residence. An Ephrata magisterial district judge ordered Baylor to stand trial after a May 12 preliminary hearing. Baylor’s attorney, Nathan Charles, has said he intends to seek dismissal of the charges on constitutional free speech grounds.

Gag order issued

In an apparent reaction to the pretrial publicity, Judge Jones issued a broad “gag order” in December 2024 and modified it on May 8.

The original gag order says that “all counsel, all members of the respective offices of counsel, the Defendant, all member’s of the Defendant’s family, all Defense witnesses and all Commonwealth witnesses are prohibited from disseminating any information about this case to anyone. This order shall preclude any above listed person from speaking with anyone in the news media, online media, or any other source. All above listed individuals are prohibited from sharing any information with any other individual.”

Prosecutors then twice accused Rodriguez of violating the original gag order, leading Jones to modify it on May 8 to add “[t]he Defendant may not communicate anything related to this case with any other individuals at any time except for counsel, defense witnesses and family members.”

Rodriguez’ relatives say DA is abusing subpoenas

Rodriguez’ mother and sister, Diana and Kristina Kolb, have challenged trial subpoenas served on them by the district attorney. Those subpoenas do not order either to appear before the court, or to testify in a courtroom. Instead, according to a Motion to Quash Subpoena filed by attorney Joseph Crowe, they attempt to order the Kolbs “to come to the Lebanon County District Attorney’s Office Room 11, … Municipal Building … on Monday, the 19th day of May [the first day of trial] … to testify on behalf of the Commonwealth.”

Crowe asked the court to throw out the subpoenas, claiming the DA is trying to “to annoy, embarrass, oppress, and burden” the Kolbs. He argued that police and prosecutors made no attempt to contact the Kolbs to determine if either has relevant information in the over two years the case has been pending, despite the Kolbs being present at multiple court proceedings.

Crowe also argued that the DA’s subpoenas, commonly referred to by attorneys as “office subpoenaes,” are improper because the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure, issued by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, only allow witnesses to be subpoenaed to appear “before the court.” Pennsylvania district attorneys are neither a court, an arm of a court, nor an appointed officer of a court.

An order was issued scheduling a May 8 hearing on the Kolbs’ Motion to Quash Subpoena before Judge Bradford Charles. As of 2:15 p.m. on Thursday, May 15, neither online criminal dockets nor the original Rodriguez case file at the Lebanon County Clerk of Courts gave any indication that a judge had ruled on whether the subpoenas could be enforced. Crowe had not responded to several requests for comment by publication time.

Issues expected at trial

Based on statements and evidence presented in court filings and at a May 1 pretrial hearing before Jones, Assistant District Attorney Amy Muller is expected to argue at trial that text messages and call logs found in the search of Rodriguez’ phone, many after the alleged incident, show that Rodriguez consented to the encounter. Muller has also suggested that Rodriguez had a motive to falsify because she was afraid a sexual encounter with someone who outranked her would be considered improper “fraternization,” jeopardizing her status with the National Guard.

Prosecutors are also expected to argue that Rodriguez’ recordings of her encounter with Pervez violated Pennsylvania’s wiretap law because Pervez did not consent to being recorded. Pennsylvania is a “two-party” state requiring, with some exceptions, all parties to a conversation to agree to be recorded.

One exception that allows recording without the consent of all parties is if the person making the recording “is under a reasonable suspicion that the intercepted party is committing, about to commit or has committed a crime of violence and there is reason to believe that evidence of the crime of violence may be obtained from the interception.”

Based on statements Rodriguez’ lawyer, Ian Ehrgood, made at the May 1 pretrial hearing, it is expected that Rodriguez will raise the violent crime exception as a defense.

Ehrgood has also indicated that he will try to counter prosecution claims of a consensual encounter by presenting the expert testimony of retired San Diego police detective Carlton Hershman and Colorado forensic psychologist Sheri Vanino.

Hershman has issued a report critical of the police investigation into the encounter between Rodriguez and Pervez. Vanino has prepared a separate report in which she concludes that Rodriguez is telling the truth and that denial and rationalization are common reactions by sexual assault victims, explaining the texts that could on their surface suggest consent.

The district attorney has filed a motion asking the judge to bar Hershman and Vanino from testifying at trial.

As of 2:15 p.m. Thursday, May 15, neither online criminal dockets nor the original Rodriguez case file at the Lebanon County Clerk of Courts gave any indication that Jones had ruled on whether Hershman or Vanino could testify. The online docket in Rodriguez’ case shows two items, dated Feb. 10 and May 2, described simply as “Sealed Entry.” LebTown was unable to determine if they relate to Hershman or Vanino.