ORLANDO, Fla. – Sitting inside an Orange County Jail cell as he awaits a pretrial detention hearing, a man in Orlando is accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl over the course of at least two days.
Gray Powell, 20, is facing charges of sexual battery on a child 12 to 17, false imprisonment, and battery.
Orlando police arrested Powell Tuesday after an investigation that started in the emergency room of Orlando Regional Medical Center.
Officers responded to the hospital in reference to a sexual battery and spoke with a 17-year-old girl who had been admitted due to complications from her Type 1 Diabetes and the fact that she had not had any insulin within the past five days.
According to a criminal complaint, she proceeded to tell police that she had met Powell on a dating app called “Duet.”
They began to chat, the girl said, before she eventually agreed to be his girlfriend and meet in person.
On Friday, May 29, Powell picked the girl up from her group home in Deland, according to the complaint.
Police said the pair went to a nearby park and had consensual sex.
Powell then asked the girl to come back with him to Orlando, according to police, who said they went to Lake Eola Park.
“While in the vehicle, the suspect began to bite the victim in which she told him to not bite her because it hurts,” the complaint stated.
The girl told police that Powell then took them to another park on North Thornton Avenue. After they began to have sex, Powell grabbed a pair of handcuffs, prompting the girl to say she no longer consented.
“He told her ‘consent does not exist in Orlando,’” the complaint stated.
Police said over the course of the next two days, Powell “continued to force himself on her using his fingers.”
The complaint also alleged that Powell used a “paddle” and a “gag ball” on the girl against her wishes.
On Monday, June 1, Powell forced the girl to drink alcohol, according to the complaint. When she said she was not feeling well and asked to go to the hospital, Powell refused.
The complaint said on Tuesday Powell drove the girl down a street and told her to walk to the hospital.
In a conversation later with police, Powell denied any wrongdoing. Detectives, however, could see through Powell’s car and noticed “a black paddle, a black and silver pair of handcuffs, a black whip, and a gag ball.”
During an initial appearance Wednesday, a judge denied Powell bond. He has a pretrial detention hearing scheduled for June 8.