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A Ventura couple was arrested on Tuesday after their former roommate accused them of regularly getting her drunk and raping her when she blacked out.
After she moved out, the 18-year-old victim told police on May 29 the disturbing details of the nearly two months that she lived with the couple in their apartment on North Laurel Street, according to Ventura County Star. She had been living with them since the beginning of April.
Authorities believed that the couple, Brandon Vanwie, 24, and Madeline Carden, 20, used alcohol to get the victim drunk and then raped her when she passed out. Ventura police Sgt. Ryan Weeks said she may have been raped more than once and that once the victim had been bound and sodomized by Vanwie.
The victim told police that she realized she had been raped only after Carden made a comment after an incident, and she began to put together what had occurred during the times she was intoxicated.
The woman was friends with Carden prior to moving in with couple. But once she moved in, she said that the couple was controlling over all aspects of her life: they would take control of her money and important documents and keep tabs on who she spoke to.
When detectives searched the couple's apartment, they found evidence of photos and text messages that matched with the victim's story. They also found a number of photos of child pornography that the couple had sent to each other electronically, according to CBS Los Angeles.
Detectives discovered that the couple possessed photos of a girl between the ages of 12 and 13 walking to school. Ventura police Cpl. D. Ruggiero told CBS Los Angeles that Vanwie had taken photos of this junior high student and had "an unnatural sexual fascination" with her. Since then, the police have identified the girl and contacted her family about the situation.
Police said that when they arrested the couple, Vanwie and Carden told them that they often fantasized about sexual acts with young girls. Detectives found evidence that showing the couple made plans to bring underage girls to their home.
Vanwie and Carden were both booked on suspicion of rape of an intoxicated person, possession of child pornography, child annoying, and conspiracy to commit a crime. In addition, Vanwie was booked on child molesting and sodomy charges. Their bail is set at $200,000 each.
