Conviction in case of man who persuaded woman to drink lye for sexual gratification

Sean Kobin, 22, is a convicted sex offender from Mequon, WI who is finally on trial for nearly fatally injuring a Grafton, WI woman November 8, 2005, by inducing her to drink industrial strength lye taken from a CD factory he was working in. Kobin initially pleaded guilty in September 2006, but rescinded his guilty plea in August of 2007. The woman, who is lucky to be alive following the industrial strength lye burns to her digestive system, was only weaned off her feeding tube last year, and still has been unable to work since the incident.

Kobin, from the Milwaukee suburb of Mequon, allegedly asked the woman, who then worked at an adult bookstore on the far northwest side of Milwaukee, to drink a liquid for $20 so he can videotape it. He also allegedly offered to get her daughter’s Ipod fixed for her drinking the liquid. Unknown to the woman, that liquid was industrial strength lye, taken from his workplace at a CD factory. Kobin is an emetophiliac, one who is sexually aroused by women vomiting, and faces charges in other cases where he has persuaded women to drink bleach or other emetics for his arousal throughout Milwaukee’s northern suburbs.

What followed in November [8], 2005 was a fit of violent, bloody vomiting and other effects so debilitating that homicide detectives were called in.

The first police officer on the scene, Thomas Balistreri of the Milwaukee Police Department, testified that he had never seen anyone so violently ill in his 16-year career. The woman, he said, was on the ground vomiting blood, yet he couldn't recall Kobin asking any questions about her condition. Instead, Kobin was urging police to watch his videotape of the event, the officer said.
Prosecutors said that Kobin willingly induced the woman to drink the lye for his sexual pleasure, and that he knew how dangerous the compound was.

"It is only by virtue of a miracle or chance or incredibly good medical treatment that (the woman) is alive," prosecutor Holly Bunch told jurors.

Kobin, she said, knew how dangerous the compound was from his training at a plant where compact disks were made. Workers there, Bunch said, were required to wear thick gloves anytime they handled the substance, yet Kobin goaded the cash-strapped woman into "some sort of bizarre agreement" to consume it.

"Any person in Mr. Kobin's place would have known that giving any amount of this substance to a human being could be fatal," Bunch said.

Kobin's attorney said in court that his client joked about stunt like the ones featured on MTV’s Jackass for months before the woman decided to take him up on the dare.

"She raises the thing of, 'Well, why don't we do this? I'll do it for $20,' "defense attorney Joseph R. Reback said in his opening statement." She takes him up on it. The rest is tragic."

"He was only (saying) that the video would show that he didn't do anything wrong," Balistreri testified.

A screen is set up in the courtroom in case attorneys decide to show the videotape. The trial is expected to take at least three days.

She was in a coma while doctors stabilized her from the effects of the lye. Surgeries and skin grafts were needed to close the holes the caustic liquid left in her body.

The woman, 33 at the time, lived, but has had to endure months of intense medical treatment because of the caustic effects of sodium hydroxide on her digestive system.


The victim only was able to stop relying on a feeding tube for her nutrition last year, after over a year. She still undergoes a procedure where her scarred esophagus and stomach is opened by forcing a tube down it every few weeks at a suburban Milwaukee hospital.

The Grafton woman who police initially thought was going to die says she has spent much of that time on feeding tubes inserted through her abdomen. She's eating now. But the problem, along with severe heartburn and acid reflux, is her esophagus won't stay open.

The doctors tried stents, but there was too much bleeding and throwing up. Now they just do esophagogastroduodenoscopies.

Yes, they're as nasty as they sound. An EGD is a little procedure wherein you are forced to fast and given something to diminish gagging. Then, while you try to remain still, somebody shoves a tube all the way down your throat into your stomach as part of an effort to stretch the esophagus.

This has been done to her, she noted in one of a series of e-mails we've exchanged, some 50 times.

She's spent so much time at Froedtert that the people there she calls her "heroes" have become like a "second family."

In the meantime, the thing is, she has a family of her own, and is unable to return to work. She and her two kids, she noted, are now living on less than $700 a month.

The victim has also filed a lawsuit against Kobin.

(Update 2-12-08)

The tape where Kobin is shown persuading the victim, Chrystal Kolinski, to drink the industrial lye was shown yesterday in Milwaukee County Circuit Judge William Sosnay's court. Testimony centered around how they met, and how Kobin wanted the woman to take "a shot."

"He basically told me he liked recording the look on people's faces," she said.

The day she finally acceded, she had run dry of luck.

An eviction notice had arrived, and her children didn't have a decent couch to sit on because the one she bought for $20 didn't fit through her door. As she explained it, she reasoned that she could drink Kobin's shot and shut him up and pocket some badly needed cash as well. He never said she could be injured, she said.

"As bad as it seems now, I was getting him to see that he could trust me," she said, "and I wasn't going to be out my $20 any more."

After she watched the videotape of the morning she took the drink from Kobin, Kolinsky's chin fell toward her chest and her shoulders heaved. The tape had been stopped moments before she drank the poison, collapsed to the ground and began vomiting blood.

Jurors were shown the part where Chrystal Kolinski went to the ground in pain, and Kolinski and her doctor testified.

"I thought having children was bad," said Kolinski, 35. "I had one without anesthetic before, and I thought if I could handle that, I could handle any level of pain. But that day was unlike anything I had ever experienced."

She suffered massive injuries to her throat and stomach from the drink and was unable to take solid food for months. A doctor testified that she will likely remain 1,000 times more likely than the average person to get stomach cancer.

(Update 2-14-08)

Kobin testified that though dropping the sodium hydroxide (lye) pellets into a bottle of water made the water burn, he had no problem giving it to his former friend. Kobin also said that the friendship was pursued as a potential romance, but he then gave Kolinski's boyfriend a literal wake-up call so he wouldn't be late for work. Kobin described taking the drink as a test of character and said it tasted salt like.

Milwaukee police Detective David Salazar testified Wednesday that Kobin had described himself during questioning as a sadist with an oral fixation. Kobin faces prosecution in connection with similar reported offenses in Ozaukee and Washington counties, and he is a registered sex offender from a 2004 Waukesha County case in which he persuaded a 13-year-old girl to drink bleach, lighter fluid and urine.

Kobin countered Wednesday that he had used the words sodium hydroxide at least once in her presence, perhaps jokingly, and had said she might get mild digestive discomfort. He said he handled the chemical at work and suffered no major discomfort.
"I was intending to figure out a way to abuse it," Kobin said.

(Update 2-16-08)

Kobin was convicted of 1st degree reckless endangerment for the incident which caused Chrystal Kolinski to nearly die and to continue to undergo treatments. He faces 25 years in prison when he is sentenced February 28th.

(Update 2-29-08)

Kobin was sentenced to 10 years of prison and 10 years extended supervision for the lye incident.

(Update 6-5-08) Kobin was sentenced to an additional 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting and persuading a 15 year old girl to drink blach for his sexual arousal. The 15 year sentence will run consecutive to the sentence in the Kolinski case.

Man who answered ad about "lady driven car" convicted of sex assault

REGINA (SNN)[Sasketchewan News Network]
-- A stranger who groped a young Regina woman after responding to a newspaper advertisement for her "lady-driven car" has been convicted of sexual assault. It took the nine-woman, three-man jury only half an hour Wednesday to find John Robert Chrispen guilty.

The 49-year-old Regina Beach man was accused of grabbing the complainant's breasts on Aug. 21, 2006, after they took her Acura Integra for a test drive.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Ronald Barclay adjourned sentencing to July 21 and ordered a pre-sentence report.

Chrispen will remain free on release conditions pending his sentencing.
The verdict came a day after the victim, who was 18 years old at the time of the assault, told court she decided to go to police lest it happen to someone else.
"It was the right thing to do," she said.

The woman, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, met Chrispen in a parking lot near the University of Regina after he called about her car ad. She said he appeared nervous during the test drive and twice abruptly braked for a pothole or puddle. Both times, he reached out his arm, touching her upper chest, as if to brace her in the passenger seat -- despite her seatbelt -- as the car jolted forward.

After they returned to the parking lot and she was back in the driver's seat, he mentioned that he had left his cellphone in the vehicle. Rather than waiting for her to reach for the phone, he leaned into the vehicle, grabbed each of her breasts, then picked up his phone and left, she told the court. She sat in the vehicle crying for about five minutes.
Chrispen never testified and called no other evidence.

His defence lawyer, Jeff Deagle, suggested the woman was mistaken in her impression of the incident and Chrispen had accidentally brushed her chest while reaching for the phone.
But Crown prosecutor Marylynne Beaton argued the woman clearly believed she was intentionally groped.

In his instructions to the jury, Barclay said an assault occurs whenever force is intentionally applied without the consent of the other party.

"Mere touching is sufficient if done intentionally," he said. To find Chrispen guilty of a sexual assault, the jury had to find the assault violated the complainant's "sexual integrity."

"This is a serious charge," Barclay told the jury, reminding them several times they couldn't convict unless the Crown had proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Career criminal charged with rape of developmemntally disabled woman

Richland County Common Pleas Judge James Henson will preside over the trial of Loy Hogan, an accused rapist and a criminal with a long history who is charged with a single count of rape after he allagedly raped the 55 year old developmentally disabled woman May 14, 2007. Judge Henson gave the victim a series of questions designed to test her conpetence to take the stand.

Henson asked the woman if she knew Hogan. After initially answering no, the woman changed her mind and pointed him out to the judge.

The judge asked the 55-year-old what a witness does. "Tell the truth," she said.

Because of a grand jury session in the morning, jury selection did not start until the afternoon. The process took four and a half hours. Only seven people were left in the pool when they were dismissed around 5 p.m.

When the trial resumes this morning, attorneys will give opening statements. Assistant Prosecutor Gary Bishop is handling the case for the state; Josh Brown is the defense attorney.
Bishop will not be able to tell the jury about Hogan's past. Hogan pleaded guilty in 1991 to two counts of statutory rape involving children younger than 13. He served 15 years in prison and was released in April 2006.

He was originally charged with five counts of rape, one count of gross sexual imposition and one count of felonious sexual penetration. A plea bargain spared him from a life sentence. A few months before that, Hogan was acquitted of aggravated murder by the suffocation death of his 5 week old son Justin. Phala Blake, then 18, pleaded guilty and agreed to serve a 15 years to life sentence and testify against Hogan. She'll be eligible for parole in 2010.

Man accused of rape, murder of girlfriend not allowed to skip trial

Harvy Johnson, accused of the rape and murder of his live in girlfriend, 38 year old Kiva Gazaway, was not allowed to skip opening statements from the prosecutor in his murder and rape trial.

Gazaway disappeared April 14, 2007 from her Libery Township, OH home after an argument because she wanted to break up with him. According to police, Johnson led them to Gazaway's body, which he dumped in the ravine.

According to witness testimony, Gazaway threatened to turn in Johnson to police as a convicted felon with a firearm.

A judge denied Johnson’s request to leave the trial, and additional security officers were present and the courtroom locked after authorities said Johnson attacked a bailiff and tried to steal his gun last year during a court appearance in Fairfield.

Defense attorneys admit that Johnson killed Gazaway, but hope that their client can avoid the death penalty. Prosecutors began opening arguments with a recorded phone call where Johnson accused Gazaway of playing games. The DA's office said that the call came after Johnson raped and strangled his girlfriend.

Alleged California serial rapist scheduled for trial May 19

A Redwood City, CA man who pled not guilty to rape in the Bay Area will be going to trial later in the spring. He faces 26 counts after allegedly raping two victims and attempting to rape another.

Raul Gutierrez Contreras, 30, pleaded not guilty to the charges and was appointed an attorney through the county's private defender program, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

He was arrested in February 2007 for driving under the influence but also had a warrant out for his arrest in connection with an attack a woman reported about a week earlier.

After Contreras was arrested, he was linked to two other rape incidents over the course of 2006, and charged with 26 felony counts including rape, burglary, false imprisonment, sexual battery and felony threats. One incident was near the Colma Bay Area Rapid Transit station and another in South San Francisco, Wagstaffe said.

The initial warrant came from a citizen's tip that a coworker, Contreras, fit the description of the suspect in the February 2007 attack and that he worked at an auto body shop.

Jury selection begins May 19.

Dueling DNA experts at rape trial

The trial of a 52 year old man who is charged with holding two separate women captive at his home featured two dueling DNA experts, with cross examination from both sides painting each other as hired guns only out for the money.

Dennis Hisle, 52, is accused of kidnapping, forcible confinement, and rape of two victims, one in December 2004, and one in May 2005. He faces life in prison in convicted of all counts.

Sperm cells found on the vulva of victim Sandra H. showed a statistical probability of roughly one in 6.3 quadrillion, or 6,300,000,000,000,000, people having the same results - or DNA profile - as Hisle's, said Watkins, adding there are only about 7 billion people on Earth.

A test of a sample taken from a hand towel that victim Karin R. spit into after she said she submitted to oral sex with the defendant also contained Hisle's sperm, Watkins said.
Watkins testified at length about the painstaking procedures employed in her lab to avoid errors. She said she used extremely conservative estimates in all her tests.

She admitted she referred to a portion of a swab of one victim's vulva as having no sperm in her report, but that she also noted "very few sperm" were seen in the sample under the microscope in the first stage of review.

Defense analyst Elizabeth Anne Johnson questioned Watkins' results Wednesday, particularly those derived from Sandra H.'s vulva sample.

According to Johnson's calculations, the swab contained about 1,400 sperm. Johnson said it is unusual to find that high quantity and quality of material in a sample thought to have no or very few sperm.

To further establish doubt, Johnson said she reviewed the crime lab's records of contamination. In those reports, she found an unrelated case handled by Watkins on Nov. 17, 2005 where Watkins documented her contamination of one test sample with another sample of DNA.

Johnson said that the victim's DNA results and Hisle's results were handled within hours, potentially compromising the test results.

In the Hisle case, records showed Watkins conducted tests of the vulva samples from victim Sandra H. within hours of testing samples from the hand towel from victim Karin R., which contained "a great deal of (Hisle's) sperm," Johnson said.

Hisle's trial continues Friday.

Oregon state student charged in rape of fellow student

Melchior Avila, a 28 year old pre-mechanical engineering student at Oregon State University, is on trial for the alleged rape and strangulation of a fellow OSU student last December 29th. He was arrested New Year's Eve and charged with her rape and strangulation. The facts leading up to the alleged rape are not in dispute.

The woman testified that she had driven to Albany from her home in Springfield to spend time with her best friend on Dec. 28. After she drank five martinis at her female friend’s house, the two decided to drive to the Cantina, a bar in Corvallis, at around 10 p.m.

Avila was an acquaintance from school, where they had a gym class together two years ago, she said. He saw her at the Cantina around 11 p.m. and came to sit with the woman and her friend, where they both drank more alcohol.The two women decided to go to El Presidente in Corvallis around midnight and they took Avila along after he asked to come.

They stayed for a few more drinks and decided to leave just before 2 a.m., when Avila asked for a ride home.The woman’s friend drove them to Avila’s Southtown apartment complex. The woman said she knew she was drunk and was feeling sick by the time they arrived. She said she didn’t want to get sick in her friend’s car and Avila offered to let her sleep on his couch.The details at that point have two versions.

The two versions of the story differ after this point. Avila's attorney, stated that the principals were having consensual sex, and the woman told him to stop, which he did. The she started trashing his apartment.

The woman's story was that was sick, woke to go to the bathroom, then returned to sleep. Avila was on top of her when she woke up the second time. She fought him off, and he choked and held her down. She waited 2 days to come forward because “I was embarrassed and scared. I thought no one would believe me because I was so intoxicated.”