Gang Rape in Panama City Video Goes Viral; Officials Say This Is Not the First Tape They've Recovered, Could Only Imagine What They Haven't Seen
Spring break debauchery might have reached an all-time high as a video showing the gang rape of a 19-year-old girl in Panama City went viral earlier this week and is shining the spotlight on a Florida city that needs to crack down on the college vacation.
Authorities claim that this is not the first tape they have found showing this type of crime and explained that this is an ongoing problem with spring breakers.
"This is not the first video we've recovered. It's not the second video. It's not the third video," Bay County Sherriff Frank McKeithen told CNN. "There's a number of videos we've recovered with things similar to this, and I can only imagine how many things we haven't recovered."
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The Bay County's Sherriff's Office sent an official copy of the incident report to The Christian Post on Thursday. It states the following:
"On April 2, 2015, Captain James Barron with the Troy Police Department contacted Jimmy Stanford with the Bay County Sherriff's Office in reference to a video that he found while conducting an investigation. That [video] depicts several individuals sexually battering a female that appears to be incapacitated.
"Contact was made with the female who advised she had come to Panama City Beach a few days before her birthday and recalls being on the beach behind Spinnaker's Beach Club. She states that she blacked out at some point during the day. And didn't recall much about the day. But remembers having to get assistance to get back to where she was staying."
McKeithen spoke with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday and described this video as "disgusting" and "sickening," noting that onlookers just feet away from the rape were "more concerned about spilling their beer than someone being raped."
"There's hundreds, hundreds of people standing there — watching, looking, seeing, hearing what's going on," McKeithen added. "And yet, our culture and our society and our young people have got to the point where, obviously, this is acceptable somewhere. I will tell you it is not acceptable in Bay County."
Authorities have taken three young men involved in the gang rape into custody. Middle Tennessee State University student George Davon was the latest suspect to be picked up, along with Alabama's Troy University students Ryan Calhoun and Delonte Martisee who are all facing sexual battery charges, according to the Bay County Sherriff's Office. All three suspects will be prosecuted in Panama City.
Just last month, Panama City councilwoman Josie Strange spoke out against the possible evils of spring break during a four-night segment on Fox News' "Hannity" program.
"I feel strongly about the reputation that Panama City beach is getting," she said. "I feel strongly about protecting the residents and the small businesses that live in this town that have made it their home, and this is not the reputation I want our city to have. We have to do something. It's accelerating every year. It's getting worse and worse and worse."
Strange went on to say that parents should not allow their children to visit Panama City Beach during spring break.
Bay County Commissioner Mike Thomas echoed Strange's sentiments.
"The last couple of years … it's gotten worse in Panama City Beach," he told CNN.
The city is now working to curb these incidents by implementing new laws, including an ordinance that prohibits the consumption of alcohol on sandy beaches between March 1 and April 18 that was passed last month.
Thomas hopes to see older crowds this time of year.
"We're going to make spring break smaller and we're going to let people know early enough that they don't come if they want it like it was last year," he said. "And we're going to let the people that won't come, because of the way it was, know that it won't be that way again."
