Rick Mabee of the public defender's office, left, with Joseph Michael Lawhorn Hisler and Samantha Cronin
A woman who said she was raped by a man and woman at a Red Bank apartment complex said the man bragged on the woman for putting her fist and arm up her rectum.
The woman testified Monday in Red Bank Court that Joseph Michael Lawhorn Hisler, 32, told Samantha Cronin, 22, "Baby, I didn't think you had in it you. I'm so proud of you." The woman said, "She looked up at him and smiled so lovey. Then they kissed like some romantic couple."
Judge Johnny Houston bound charges against the pair to the Grand Jury. He upgraded charges of aggravated kidnapping to especially aggravated kidnapping. They were also bound over for aggravated rape. Bond was raised on the kidnapping from $200,000 to $300,000 and on the rape from $200,000 to $250,000.
The woman said she had just moved back to Chattanooga from Atlanta nine days earlier and was staying with a male friend at an apartment complex next door to where the incident took place. She said she went out on the morning of June 25 and met a guy named Corey who was passing by. She said she went to the store with him and he told her about Ms. Cronin.
The alleged victim, who acknowledged she is an alcoholic and often smokes marijuana, said she was out of money and was willing to be involved in an escort service with Ms. Cronin. She said, "I sought her. I was broke. It was never spelled out that sex was involved, but we knew."
She said she was invited to Ms. Cronin's that evening to meet her boyfriend, Hisler. She said she had two glasses of straight Scotch in an old-style Coke glass about 5:30 p.m., then she passed out. She said she awoke later to find herself naked on the kitchen floor with Hisler on top of her having sex with her. She said when she asked him to get off, he punched her in the eye, breaking a bone in the eye.
She said he also put his hands around her neck and started choking her. "I thought I was dead. I thought that was it," she stated.
She said she passed out again and later found herself in bed with the couple. She said when she woke up that time she had a large gash in her leg and was in extreme pain. That was when Hisler was bragging on Ms. Cronin for "fisting" her, she said.
The woman said she begged for medical attention, noting there were puddles of blood in the floor. But she said Hisler went to sleep and ordered Ms. Cronin to watch her. She said she was able to sneak away when Ms. Cronin could no longer keep her eyes open.
The witness said she was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery. She said her rectum area was so messed up that she has trouble defecating and has to use a colostomy bag.