Trial starts for National Guardswoman accused of filing false sex assault report

“The sex was great.”

Those were the first words Senior Deputy District Attorney Amy Muller spoke to the jury on Monday afternoon, May 19, as she began her opening statement in the trial of Veronika Rodriguez.

The words were texted, Muller said, by Veronika Rodriguez to a friend soon after she had late-night sex with her Air National Guard superior, Dr. Fahad Pervez, in his car while parked in a remote area of Fort Indiantown Gap.

Rodriguez initially told a police officer who found them that night in January 2023 that the two had consensual sex, Muller also told the jury.

But, three days later, Rodriguez reported to FTIG police and her Guard superior that Pervez had assaulted her. Muller told the jury that a search of Rodriguez’s phone and an interview with Pervez led investigators to conclude that the sex was consensual and that Rodriguez illegally recorded it without Pervez’s knowledge and consent.

“This was a very consensual sexual act,” Muller told the seven men and five women who will weigh what is expected to be five days of testimony and evidence in the courtroom of Lebanon County Judge Charles Jones.

Muller contended that Rodriguez, a new Guard recruit, lied about the nature of her relationship with Pervez, a major, because she feared a sexual encounter with a superior officer would be considered forbidden “fraternization” and jeopardize her future with the Guard.

Rodriguez has been 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.

Pervez, a practicing medical doctor in New York, has not been charged in connection with the incident.

In his opening statement, defense attorney Ian Ehrgood told the jury that Pervez had in fact forced Rodriguez to have intercourse and that her behavior after the incident was “counterintuitive” but not unexpected for a rape victim.

“Veronika Rodriguez in truth is the victim in this case,” Ehrgood said. “She told him ‘no’ many, many times. She made excuses, she told him she wanted to stay celibate.”

Ehrgood is expected to present Sherry Vanino, a Colorado forensic psychologist, to testify that victims often exhibit counterintuitive behavior – such as self-blame, denial, and continuing to associate with their assailant – before, during, and after sexual assaults.

The defense attorney also said police abandoned an assault investigation and decided Rodriguez was lying “before they even interviewed Pervez.”

After openings, Muller called Pervez as her first witness. He described meeting Rodriguez the day before at a Guard dental clinic in Middletown where she worked. He left her his phone number and they exchanged flirtatious text messages over the following day. Muller projected screenshots of the texts on the courtroom wall as she and Pervez read them.

The two met up the next day at Fort Indiantown Gap and drove together in Pervez’s car to the Frogs Hollow Tavern, where they had dinner.

While there, Rodriguez secretly recorded her conversations with Pervez on her phone. After dining, Pervez drove Rodriguez back to her car at Fort Indiantown Gap. Along the way, Rodriguez secretly recorded her conversation with Pervez in the car.

Muller played those conversations for the jury, some of which were accompanied by video showing a smiling Pervez behind the wheel. Pervez told the jury that he never knew he was being recorded and never gave Rodriguez permission to do so.

Monday afternoon’s testimony concluded with Pervez still on the witness stand, still describing the events leading up to sexual intercourse in the back of his car.

Read More: Trial of woman accused of making false sexual assault report begins Monday

Vocal critics of Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess had targeted her with an aggressive and often highly personal social media campaign criticizing the chief prosecutor’s decision to charge Rodriguez instead of Pervez.

That and publicity generated by a PennLive report that Lebanon County has one of the lowest sex crime prosecution rates in Pennsylvania led Judge Jones to issue a broad gag order last December and to tighten it earlier this month when Muller accused Rodriguez of twice violating it.

However, none of the 31 potential jurors questioned Monday knew anything about the case, except for one man who said he may have glanced at a single headline.