Prosecution casts doubt on recording as defendant takes stand in rape report trial

Veronika Rodriguez, the Pennsylvania Air National Guard recruit on trial for charges that she falsely reported that a fellow guard member raped her and for illegally recording their encounter, began testifying in her defense late Wednesday afternoon.

Rodriguez and Guard physician Fahad Pervez, a major, had dinner at Frog’s Hollow Tavern on the evening of Jan. 8, 2023, having met for the first time the day before. They left Frog’s Hollow in Pervez’s Jeep and eventually ended up at a secluded, off-limits parking lot at a Fort Indiantown Gap conference center, where they had sex before being interrupted by FTIG police.

For about 25 minutes yesterday, Rodriguez answered questions from her attorney about past relationships and some medical issues that delayed the start of her basic training. Her testimony had not turned to the incident in question or her recording of the evening’s events by the time court adjourned for the day at 4:40 p.m. She was expected to be back on the stand Thursday morning.

Prosecution questions Rodriguez’s recording

Rodriguez is accused of secretly recording her time with Pervez on her phone, without his consent, starting when they were in Frog’s Hollow and continuing through their sexual intercourse, a span of about 55 minutes.

Earlier Wednesday, Senior Deputy District Attorney Amy Muller called several witnesses who suggested that Rodriguez misrepresented the 55-minute recording to investigators and may have outright tampered with it.

According to officer Randy Czerviski, who at the time worked with Fort Indiantown Gap Police and currently is an officer for North Londonderry Township Police, investigators made an exact copy of the data on Rodriguez phone on Jan. 13, 2023, in order to do a forensic exam of its contents, then returned the phone to her. Czerviski testified that when he met with Rodriguez on Jan. 14, she played several short audio “clippings,” totaling no more than a few minutes, which could be interpreted as selectively showing that Rodriguez let Pervez know, verbally and through her actions, that she did not want to have sex.

But, according to Czerviski, Rodriguez never told him about the entire 55 minutes of audio or that the clippings were pulled from it. Czerviski only learned on Jan. 23, 2023, that there was a longer recording when he received the results of the forensic examination of the phone’s contents.

Muller contended in her opening statement on Monday that the entire 55-minute recording, in its entirety, shows that Rodriguez and Pervez agreed to have sex.

Western Lebanon County Regional Police Detective Jared Henry described the forensic examination he did on Rodriguez’s phone. He testified that the 55-minute recording, which would have been made on Jan. 8, 2023, was dated Jan. 11, 2023, suggesting that it had been removed from the phone after its creation, then reinstalled three days later.

Henry also concluded that the short audio files Rodriguez played for Czerviski and sent to others were intentionally created and named by a human, not automatically by the phone.

Finally, Henry told the jury that at least one text created on the phone on Jan. 9, the day after the alleged rape, appeared to have been deleted.

Another prosecution witness, Assistant County Detective Ryan Adams, testified that he noticed that two copies of the digital recording had different lengths, leading him to compare their content. He concluded that between 1:16 and 1:30 minutes of conversation between Pervez and Rodriguez was missing, possibly covering the period when the two were parked at Snitz Creek Brewing near FTIG on the evening in question.

As reported by PennLive, Czerviski also testified that he had never investigated a sexual assault before Rodriguez’s report. He also said he’d undergone trauma-informed training, but under-cross examination could not define what a “trauma-informed response” was, or what the training entailed, according to PennLive. Czerviski said that FTIG police did not ask anyone involved in the case to take a polygraph test, according to the report, and also did not ask Pervez to turn over his phone records or attempt to access his electronic devices with a search warrant.

Investigators doubt rape claim

Czerviski testified that he and FTIG police chief Devan Kramer, then a sergeant, were inclined to believe Rodriguez after they interviewed her at the police station on Jan. 11, 2023. The audio and video interview was played for the jury, and an often tearful Rodriguez described being intoxicated after many drinks at Frog’s Hollow, feeling trapped because she was too drunk to drive home to Middletown, and not being able to see inside the Jeep after Pervez allegedly took her glasses.

But after receiving the results of the forensic phone examination on Jan. 14, 2023, Czerviski and Kramer became aware of the entire recording, plus dozens of post-sex text messages from Rodriguez to friends and Pervez that suggested she welcomed and enjoyed the encounter with Pervez and wanted to do it again. One said simply, “the sex was great.”

They also noticed that texts from Rodriguez started to change from describing consensual sex to describing being drunk and reluctant to have sex, but unable to get away from Pervez, who forced himself of her. The change in the tone of the texts, Czerviski testified, started after Jan. 10, 2023.

Earlier testimony established that Rodriguez met on that date with Guard Senior Enlisted Leader Scott Little. Little testified that he had seen a police blotter noting that Rodriguez and Pervez had been found together two days earlier in the off-limits parking lot, and that he asked her to explain why she’d been found with a senior officer.

Muller has suggested that Rodriguez has a motive to lie because “fraternizing” with a senior officer is a violation that could jeopardize her future with the Guard.

As a result, Czerviski and Kramer recommended that the Lebanon County District Attorney charge Rodriguez, not Pervez.

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

The trial before Judge Charles Jones is expected to last through Friday.

Editor’s note: This article was updated after publication to include more information on Officer Randy Czerviski’s testimony