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PALM BAY, FL — A 33-year-old Palm Bay man is being held without bond after telling a detective he repeatedly had sex with a minor teen even though he knew she said it was never consensual — and agreeing, in his own recorded statement, that what he did constituted rape, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Brevard County court.
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Epsen Ralph Joseph was arrested by the City of Palm Bay Police Department at about 2:53 a.m. on July 2 and booked into the Brevard County Jail on 15 counts of sexual battery under Florida Statute 794.011(5)(a), a felony flagged as domestic violence, court records show.
According to the probable cause affidavit written by Detective Thomas Danti of the department’s Special Victims Unit, patrol officers responded on July 2 to a third-party report that a female — a minor, identified in the redacted affidavit only as “J1” — had been sexually battered. Because it was a delayed report, no physical evidence was collected, but the victim made a disclosure to officers and later gave a sworn recorded statement.
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The teen told the detective the assaults began around the end of last year, when Joseph drove her around the block in his car, made her get in the back seat, and sexually battered her despite her telling him to stop and saying she did not want to have sex with him, the affidavit states. Afterward, she said, Joseph told her not to tell anyone. She told the detective he went on to sexually batter her numerous times without her consent.
What stands out in the affidavit is Joseph’s own statement. After being read his Miranda rights, Joseph told the detective he already knew why police were at his residence — because of “lewd” acts — and said he was dressed because he figured he would be going to jail, according to the affidavit. He admitted to having sexual intercourse with the victim approximately 15 to 25 times in total. The affidavit states Joseph acknowledged he knew the victim had said she was raped, but that he “continued to have sex with her because he was being selfish, but knew it was wrong.”
