A 39-year-old Connecticut man pleaded not guilty at the Edgartown District Courthouse on Friday to charges of rape and assault and battery in connection to an incident that allegedly occurred on the Island in June.
Ryan Phillips appeared at the Edgartown courthouse on Dec. 12 where he entered not guilty pleas to both charges. A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Feb. 12 where an Edgartown District Court judge will determine if there’s enough evidence to move forward with criminal charges.
According to Tisbury Police reports based on an interview with the victim, back in June, Phillips and the women spent time together at a bar in Oak Bluffs before the alleged incident occurred. The alleged victim said she woke up in Phillips’ bed with little memory of the previous night and missing her clothes and phone.
Phillips became increasingly angry after the victim started questioning him after she woke up with little memory, a police report states. The report also states that the alleged victim said Phillips denied that he raped her.
Phillips then allegedly “dragged” the victim to his car, the report said, claiming he would take her to the police station. Once driving, Phillips refused to let the victim out of his car, prompting her to jump out of the moving vehicle in Oak Bluffs, the report said.
The victim states in the report that she made it home before being taken to the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital for her injuries from jumping out of the vehicle.
According to reports, at the hospital, the victim underwent a sexual assault evidence collection kit (SAECK), which identified male DNA on her genitalia.
Following his arraignment on Friday last week, Phillips posted a $1,000 bail and was released on personal recognizance with conditions to stay away from and have no contact with the alleged victim.
“Pleaded guilty” is the proper usage.
You plead, you do not pleaded.
“you plead” is present tense, but “you do not pleaded” is grammatically incorrect;
It was worth one comment because this newspaper promotes proper English usage. Readers appreciate that. Ergo, “pled” was changed to “pleaded” after I pointed out the misuse in a comment. I’m no expert, but there are many improperly used words that are now “accepted” because people use them, regardless of ruining the English language. “Irregardless”, for example, makes well-spoken people cringe, but it’s in the dictionary now.
But he plead “not guilty”. You might want to get the details right while you are trying to correct people.
Thank you, MVTimes, for changing the “pled” to “pleaded”!
“pled” is common in American colloquial use and sometimes seen in legal contexts,
Such an important indifference.
Worth three comments?
It is a tense situation.
The heck with the grammar police here. Released on $1,000. bail and ordered to stay away!? Where’s the protection for the young woman? The guys behavior screams guilt.
I find it interesting that an article about a serious allegation of a man drugging and raping a woman, then allegedly assaulting her by dragging her into a car and then not letting her out of it ( potential kidnapping ) only draws comments about improper spelling by the Times. But , I get it– the perpetrator does not have a name that identifies him as a “foreigner” nor do we know the religious affiliation of the victim. But good work to those eagle eyed grammar police for spotting the errors. In the meantime, I will express my condolences to the victim and hope she can get some semblance of justice . I will also apologize to the grammar police for my run on sentence .
There is no reporting here of charges that the woman was drugged or that there were drugs found in her system at the hospital. Alleged memory loss can happen after an evening spent at a bar for reasons other than being drugged. Best not to assume anything or impose guesses as facts.
$1000 bail. For rape, and you all are worried about grammar.
Rape, attempted kidnapping, assault……..$1,000 bail.
Released on Personal Recognizance- with conditions to stay away from the victim.
This is a terrible miscarriage of justice, a crime rooted in violence and control, and a slap on the wrist for this predator.
Maybe he will go on to be President, and she can work her way through the trauma and pain and absolute life-changing event….she’ll get over it…
Something’s wrong around here, and women are not safe.