FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A court hearing for a Lighthouse Point man accused of raping a 17-year-old girl multiple times in the mid-1990s led to tense moments between prosecutors and the suspect’s attorneys.
At issue on Thursday was whether or not Louis Bianculli should be released on bond after he was re-arrested and charged last month.
“Let me finish speaking,” said a prosecutor.
“No, excuse me. That is absolutely incorrect,” countered a defense attorney.
At one point, the presiding judge interjected.
“I’m speaking now!” he said.
The 75-year-old’s latest arrest came after video surfaced showing him allegedly raping the victim in 1995.
Prosecutors said Bianculli faces several charges, including sexual assault with a deadly weapon, when he drugged and had sex with his 17-year-old employee on three separate occasions, covering the girl’s face with a mask.
Prosecutors said the victim even passed out, and Bianculli recorded the whole thing on video.
Investigators said Bianculli’s son found the videotape and gave it to prosecutors, who eventually identified the girl.
The state on Thursday used still photos of the video as evidence in court.
“On that video, you can clearly see that this substance is used to cause death or bodily harm,” said a prosecutor. “That photograph introduced into evidence shows not a girl with her eyes closed; it shows her eyes open, with a lifeless body lying there after the defendant administered the narcotic to her.”
The suspect’s defense fired back.
“It is not, as the detective said, passed out unconscious. She is having a conversation with him on that video,” said a defense attorney.
The victim did go to police back then, but the Broward State Attorney’s Office didn’t charge Bianculli in this case.
The prosecutors’ close-out memo from November 1995 read in part, “It appears … that the sole issue in this matter is whether or not the victim consented to sexual relations with the defendant.”
Bianculli was arrested back in 2015 and accused of sexually assaulting his 12-year-old stepdaughter. He was charged in that case.
As for his most recent arrest, the suspect was granted a $375,000 bond for each count. He is due back in court in January.
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