Law&Crime Sidebar - Graphic New Document Exposes Alleged 'Predator Teen's' Brutal Assaults

Episode Date: February 3, 2026

An 18-year-old in Orange County, FL, Rafael O'Reilly Lerner, is facing over a dozen sex crime charges for alleged graphic attacks on a fellow high schooler. A new arrest affidavit reveals disturbing details of alleged sexual battery and strangulation, as well as apparent threats of revenge porn. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber digs into the shocking claims and discusses why we may be seeing more savage sexual violence from young suspects with forensic psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: You’re 30 seconds away from being debt free with PDS Debt. Get your free assessment and find the best option for you at https://PDSDebt.com/sidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger, Christina O'Shea, Alex Ciccarone, & Jay CruzScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrimeTwitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We are learning graphic new details about a teenager's alleged attacks on a girl. And if you think we're talking about convicted teen rapist, Jesse Mack Butler in Oklahoma, think again, although I will tell you, the allegations in this case are eerily similar to that one. We have gathered more information about Rafael O'Reilly Lerner as he faces more than a dozen sex crime charges. And we're getting forensic psychiatrist Dr. Daniel Bober's take on this. And if these allegations are true, my gosh. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by law and crime. I'm Jesse Weber. We first told you about alleged predator, 18-year-old Raphael O'Reilly Lerner back in December, 18 years old.

Well, I'll tell you what, we just got our hands on an arrest affidavit, and I am telling you, this is giving us a dramatic new look, new alleged details about his purported attacks on a fellow high schooler. And we are looking at this case in an entirely different way now. So according to Orange County inmate records, O'Reilly Lerner is still locked up with no bond because of the severity of his 11 charges. And I can't emphasize this enough given how young he is. But we are talking three counts of sexual battery with a deadly weapon or physical force. Tampering with a witness, false imprisonment, use of a child and a sexual performance,

four counts of battery by strangulation, sexual battery of a person between 12 and 18 years. years old with threat of retaliation. And O'Reilly Lerner was also charged with two counts of battery, but the court records indicate there was no further action that was taken on those charges. But several of the counts that he's facing right now, they carry a punishment of life in prison if he's convicted. That's our understanding here. So the stakes couldn't be more severe. And I want to dig into what exactly O'Reilly Lerner's alleged victim said that he did, okay? And it is important to acknowledge that what she says happened to her and what the charges the state is bringing against him in the search for justice, it is laid out now in graphic new detail.

And I'm going to warn you, this is not easy to hear. For parents out there of teenage children, this is not easy to hear. But that leads us to this affidavit, okay, new information. So the detective who wrote this affidavit, Jill Pagony, started the document by talking about her experience as an Orange County deputy, especially when it comes to investigating sex crimes involving children, noting that she has unfortunately looked into a lot of these cases. This one, though, I will tell you, I do wonder if it's different. Now, Detective Pagoni said that she first responded to a local school on November 21, 2025.

That is when a 17-year-old made a disclosure about sexual incidents that happened off-campus but involved another student, 17 years old. Now, in her initial statement, the student said that a few weeks before, so in October, she had been hanging out with the defendant, Raphael O'Reilly Lerner. And that she was hanging out with him and a couple more friends. This was at an outlet mall. And she would later say that in a later interview that she and O'Reilly Lerner, they were in the talking stage of their relationship.

They had only been together for a few weeks, but they'd been at the same school together for around a year. She claims she told O'Reilly Lerner that she didn't want to do anything sexual for now. And she claims he agreed. She thought that he was being a gentleman. but then there was this alleged incident at the outlet mall, and she claims that changed everything. This is, again, according to her. She says one of her other friends whose gender isn't indicated in the report slapped her on the

backside seemingly as a kind of joke. But that really, according to her, upset O'Reilly Lerner. So what happens? She claims he drives all the friends home. Then she claims he took her to a restaurant called Rockos Tacos in Orlando, but instead of going inside, she claims he parked behind the building near the dumpsters. And the affidavit says that he wanted to have sex with her. She didn't want to. She tries to get away. But this is where she claims he yanks her back into the car, by her hair, and told her to get in the back seat. Before we get into this,

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rated by the Better Business Bureau. Every month you wait is going to cost you more. But your way out starts right now. Don't wait for debt to strike again. Break free in 30 seconds. Get your free personalized assessment and the best option for you at PDSdebt.com slash sidebar. That's pdsdette.com slash sidebar. Now I'm going to read from the document now, okay? Quote, she got into the back seat of his car and told Raphael, she did not feel comfortable and kept telling Raphael, no. He proceeded to hold her chest down and took her pants off. She tried to push him off because it was painful. Raphael slapped her across the face and spit on her while stating he was going to make it hurt more as he recorded her face and the rest of her body. After recording,

he used both of his hands to choke her to the point she could not breathe and continued to call her a slut while slapping and spitting on her face. After Raphael finished, he told her if she told anyone or tried to leave him, he would leak the video all over the school and to her parents. Now, if these allegations are true, this is unfortunately a threat that we've heard all too often, right? Predators using the threat of revenge porn as a way to keep victims obedient. Now, the detective says O'Reilly Learner went even further, though, allegedly showing the teen girl videos of people apparently getting killed or dismembered, reportedly saying he had friends who could do that to her. According to Detective Bagoni, quote,

Raphael showed her the various types of albums he had on his Apple iPhone and quickly scrolled through. She caught a glimpse of video albums containing other potential female victims younger than her. And police have previously told local news outlets that they think that there could be more alleged victims out there. And they encouraged them to come forward now that O'Reilly Learner is locked up. The affidavit says, quote, she had all the text messages from Raphael threatening to leak the videos and was able to get a glimpse of Raphael's cell phone when she observed multiple videos of other, females having sex with him. She was able to identify one of the females as redacted, an outcry witness. This is usually somebody who was told about some sort of sexual abuse of a child.

Quote, she told her she had gone through the same thing with Raphael when she was in a relationship with him. Now, O'Reilly Lerner also, according to her, seemed to be obsessed with the idea that this victim, this alleged victim, was cheating on him. According to the affidavit, quote, Rafael continued to accuse her of cheating on him and made contact with a previous male friend on her phone verifying their relationship. After he hung up the phone, he demanded she go to the backseat of his silver gray sedan to have sex with him. And if she did not, she needed to leave his car. She told him she did not want to have sex and just wanted to go home. She attempted to leave the front passenger seat of the vehicle when he grabbed her hair and yanked her back into the vehicle.

This caused her to lose pieces of her hair. Raphael demanded her to get into the backseat again or else he would do, quote, more to her. She continued to tell him she did not want to have sex as she was a virgin, but was in fear of how he would react if she did not comply. So if these allegations are true, what a horrific thing to experience especially at such a young and impressionable age. And by the way, these allegations are true. He's leaving behind, allegedly, a mountain of evidence, right? talking other people, the digital evidence. You also wonder if there's any forensic data in his car,

although I will tell you it could be difficult because, you know, if hair strands are in the car, that might not be surprising if the two were together. And again, if there's this allegation of, you know, coerced sexual activity, you know, having the presence of certain material in the car might not be able to definitively prove what happened. Little tough. But I want to go back to this document because it says, quote, she later confronted Raphaelvia text and asked why he,

was so rough and why it turned to, quote, that. Raphael apologized and stated he never meant to hurt her. He mentioned that something was wrong with him and that it was not his intention to hurt her. He bought her gifts each time an incident occurred to make her feel better. Again, digital evidence like this will be huge if he's admitting to something like this. It elevates the case from simply he said, she said. And by the way, if these allegations are true, how many times have you heard something like that, right? somebody abuses a partner and then love bombs them, messages, gifts. It's a common tactic we see

many times. And again, if the allegations are true, just very disturbing for somebody this age. Now, just a few days after this alleged assault, O'Reilly Lerner reportedly heard from one of the victim's former friends that she had cheated on him, okay? According to the affidavit, he was livid, and he confronted her via text, allegedly telling her that if she didn't see him that night, He would leak naked images of her. This is in the text messages, huge piece of evidence. The affidavit claims that they once again, they met up with friends to look at Halloween decorations

before the other teens went home, and this is when O'Reilly Lerner reportedly took the victim to his home. And interestingly, the affidavit says that the victim remembered that O'Reilly Lerner's bedroom door had a fingerprint lock on the handle. The victim claims O'Reilly Lerner had sex with her against her will in his bedroom multiple times that night, which included him allegedly strangling her nearly to the point of unconsciousness. And she claimed that she felt obliged to have sex with him so he wouldn't be mad at her.

That's important because if this goes to a trial and she testifies, one of the key questions will be, why did you keep coming back? Why did you go back? The affidavit says, quote, he pushed down on her vocal cords hard enough for her to make wheezing sounds. She claims O'Reilly Lerner also went through her phone that night and got upset when he found text messages between her and another boy. He then reportedly told her that he would be going through her phone on a daily basis from then on. This is again according to police. And the victim told the detective

that no matter how much she said no, she couldn't get free from O'Reilly Learner's clutches. Quote, Raphael reminded her that the more she resisted or said no, the worse it was going to be, and the more he was going to leak her stuff. He was going to show her father all the video so he can see how much of a slut she was. He told her to just get it over with so she can go home. And then regarding a certain sexual act that she didn't want to do, quote, he informed her that he would tie her up one day and do that with her no matter what, and she would not be able to say no. The teen then apparently told the detective that O'Reilly Lerner was incredibly possessive, had taken over her life. Quote, Raphael was a jealous person and, quote, would not allow her to have any friends she believed. He would

have his friend watch her while at school if he was not attending. I should tell you much of this affidavit is blacked out likely for the victim's privacy or the integrity of this investigation, but it does state on December 4th, 2025, she was shown a single photo of Raphael and positively identified him as Raphael O'Reilly Lerner. She also provided a recent photograph of him, as well as his home address. And then you have the Florida outlet W.OFL that discovered that this was apparently not O'Reilly Lerner's first run in with the law. And according to records they reviewed, a 19-year-old woman accused him of sexual battery and voyeurism back in August.

In 2023, a 16-year-old said O'Reilly Lerner threatened to hurt her if she didn't send him nude images. And also, according to the outlet, investigators say that he was arrested in connection with some sort of domestic battery incident in 2020. He would have been what, just 12 or 13 years old at the time? During his bond hearing back in December, the judge made it clear that she didn't want O'Reilly Lerner, to contact any of the alleged victims or witnesses, possess any kind of weapon, or be online.

I don't want him on the internet or being able to photograph or send images to the alleged victims. And it's our understanding that O'Reilly Learner's next hearing on the docket is scheduled for April 23rd. Now, back in December, I spoke with criminal defense attorney Joe Tamborino about what we might expect in this criminal case, given the evidence that investigators have. Take a look. Most cases do end with some type of plea bargain. They all do, whether it's state, federal, no matter what state you pick, most cases are pled out pursuant to some type of an agreement, especially in these kind of cases. Because when you have all this kind of mountain of evidence, meaning that you not only have the victim's information, but you have electronic evidence showing that, why, yes, there are these images of the victim or victims. That's a mountain of evidence. And many times you're going to have some type of deal worked out. But in this case, I don't see a deal being worked out that does not include some hefty amount of prison time. And in today's world, this happens so often where there is a digital evidence trail. And unless you have some type of proof being from the defense side, let's say,

that, you know, someone else did this, they got control of your device, somehow they knew of your passwords and they did this so they set you up. Unless you have some evidence, of that, it's very solid stuff coming against the defendant. And, you know, no matter how much we all know that digital evidence lasts forever, you know, defendants out there continue to do this. They continue to text, email, basically giving the whole case to the prosecutor. Now, I got to say something. There are, if these allegations are true, definitely a lot of similarities between this case. And yes, O'Reilly Learner is innocent until proven guilty. But if the allegations are true, similarities between this case and the case, something that we've covered a lot here on sidebar, the case of Jesse

Mac Butler, that's Stillwater, Oklahoma teen, who entered a no contest plea to more than a dozen of his own sex crimes charges. And in a twist, the court agreed to grant him youthful offender status. Remember that? Which means instead of facing potentially decades in prison, Butler was given probation, never spend time behind bars. And like O'Reilly Lerner, Butler was also accused of strangling and choking his victims, two of whom came forward to tell school, administrators about what was going on. They had both dated Butler at separate times, but experienced the same brutality. One of the victims ended up having to have surgery. Reportedly had a doctor tell her she was only 30 seconds away from dying when she was choked out. The victims, their families,

they've been fighting to have Butler's youthful offender status reevaluated for the court to decide if the victim's rights were violated by the deal. And Oklahoma State Agency also recently announced it had done an investigation into the judge's decision making in this case and found there was misconduct. According to the Oklahomaan, the Council on Judicial Complaints released a report on January 22nd saying they didn't find any wrongdoing in Payne County District Judge Susan Worthington's very controversial involvement in Butler's case. There had been a lot of rumors swirling around on social media that maybe Worthington's connections with Oklahoma State University where Butler's father had coached football could that have influenced her actions, but apparently not. The administrator

director of the council, Taylor Henderson, told the Oklahomaan that typically they won't release information about their investigations if no misconduct is found, but this case was just getting too much attention. So, quote, the misinformation surrounding this case really took on a life of its own and it would not stop and the council felt that without stepping in and assuring the public that there's no wrongdoing here that it was going to continue. But to my knowledge, the council has never issued this type of public record saying that a judge has not engaged in misconduct. Yes, that was a very, very different case. And yes, this is kind of a unique case. But going back to my initial point, if the allegations are true, similarities, right? And I want to talk about that right now. I want

a different perspective on that. All right. Let me bring on forensic psychiatrist from the show, Dr. Daniel Bober. A doctor, thank you so much for taking the time to talk about this. If these allegations are true, there's two things that stand out to me. One, the age, right, his age that he has been doing this. And B, there's aspects of that. of it that, I mean, you're the expert on it. There is a sadistic nature to it. There is a controlling nature to it. There is a sexual nature to it. And my first thought, and I'm making complete assumptions here, is how does someone that young do something like this? Is this something that they were learned? Is this something that they saw? Does this give an evidence of what their

behavior was like? You know, I'm made of questions about if these allegations are true, given, again, how young this individual is. Yes, well, you know, it's very disturbing because obviously I've never examined him. I've never assessed him, so I can't diagnose him. But what I can say is, is that brain development alone, that is the immaturity of the brain, does not explain this behavior. We can't just chalk this up to, well, he's young, he's impulsive, he doesn't weigh the future consequences of his actions, because there's something much darker going.

on here, something much more sinister if the facts are true as stated. And I've seen this before in other offenders and other young offenders. And what we're seeing here is not just someone who can't control their impulses, but we're seeing someone who engages in organized coercion, sustained intimidation, and escalation of violence. And so he finds these victims and he starts off with the charm, the fast intimacy, the love bombing. And then that progresses very quickly. to domination, force, terror, and then finally, the silence by threat, by intimidation, by the fear of shame and humiliation. So that's a much more organized, systematic, planned way of going after these victims, which deviates from the standard explanation that, you know,

this is just an 18-year-old offender with an immature brain. And yes, he's innocent until proven guilty, but when you compare him to Jesse Mack Butler, where that case was resolved, it does seem to me, something alarming about how young they are and allegedly engaging in this pattern of, like you said, degrading women and degrading girls and humiliating them in a sexual environment. From what you've seen in someone that young, how are they developing that? I mean, where does that come from? So part of it can be personality traits, part of it can be exposure to pornography at a young age, domestic violence or abuse. There's a variety of factors. some sort of traumatic incident,

but that combined with genetic propensities can lead to this type of behavior. But it is obviously very disturbing that he is doing this in such an organized way, given his age. What's a genetic propensity? Can you elaborate on that? Certain traits that he might be born with,

for example, poor frustration tolerance, impulsivity, lack of empathy, callousness, lack of remorse, traits that he could be born with that could be partially genetic and not just based on exposure. to trauma. That's interesting. So let me ask you a question about that. That's not just the environment. You're saying people can be born with this. And even if they grew up in a loving, a loving household, and we're given every opportunity, something innate within them can be triggered. That there's not a way

to correct that. I think the stereotypical sort of Hollywood explanation is whenever you have a psychopath or a serial killer, and I'm not saying that he's a psychopath because I haven't met him or diagnosed him, that they always grew up in a broken home, that they were exposed to trauma, to violence, to abuse and neglect. But that's not always the case. There are certainly cases where people can become this way and still have what you would call a relatively normal, in quotes, upbringing. I want also just focus on the alleged victim in this case. Someone might read this and say, well, wait a minute. Why did she keep coming back? Why did she engage in sexual activity with him? I mentioned before there was a part where she said she felt like she had to so he wouldn't get mad,

but then why just not cut him out of your life? Why not why even have him in your life? Why even spend time with him? Now, of course, there could be the threat that if you don't do that, what he would do to you, what he would expose online, but also the age, right? Talk to me about what we should understand about this alleged victim at that age, that level of coercion, that level of why they would keep coming back, because in a legal case, that's something that would be explored by the defense.

You know, this reminds me of your extensive coverage of the Diddy's story, right? Why did the victims keep coming back? He controlled them, he beat them, he exploited them, but yet they kept coming back. And again, that goes back to lack of self-esteem, a perceived threat that if I don't come back, that he's going to do something worse to me, or he's going to expose me or humiliate me in some way. Or maybe by coming back, I can keep him in check and keep this situation under control so that he doesn't go further. So I think there's obvious physical intimidation and coercion. And there's, in this case, there's what we call digital captivity, if you will,

where he's holding something over them that he could release at any moment and humiliate them. If someone's listening to this, if a parent's listening to this and they have teenage children, what would you advise them to do and say, hey, listen, what should I tell my child if they're starting to be romantically interested in people? Are there warning signs they should be looking out for? because look, there's a difference between someone getting jealous versus someone getting, in this case, jealous and allegedly engaging in violent tendencies. What would you advise to tell their children be on the lookout for this person? I know you like this person, but be on the lookout for X, Y, and Z.

So I think one of the biggest mistakes that parents make as a child and adolescent psychiatrist that I see in young adults is judgment, humiliation, shame. they don't just open up and listen. They judge very quickly, and I think that causes the person to completely shut down and closes an open line of communication. So I think it's important to listen without judgment, be present, don't shame your child, let them speak freely, and try to focus on coming up with a solution and not a moral judgment, because I think when you do that, it shuts them down. So I think you just have to be very attuned to what's going on and be present and keep an open line of communication. And that is also for if you are a parent of an alleged perpetrator, right? If you are the parent of, let's say, a Jesse Mac Butler or a parent of O'Reilly

Lerner given the allegations, what should parents be on the lookout for if they, I mean, what is a warning sign that something might not be right here? Keeping secrets, changing behavior, hygiene, hanging out with different friends, changes in eating patterns, sleeping patterns, use of drugs or alcohol, these would all be warning signs. But, you know, one question that a lot of people have asked me about this story is, how do you rehabilitate someone like this? Can they be rehabilitated? The question is the wrong question.

Because when you have someone who perpetrates this type of behavior, what you need to be thinking about is, is this something that is arising out of a developmental context? In other words, like I said in the beginning, is this something that's about development, is their brain immature? Or is it something that is based on more entrenched personality, traits. And so I think it's less about rehabilitation and more about mitigating risk in this particular situation. Well, what do you mean by that? If it's an entrenched, entrenched characteristic, could therapy

help in any way? So therapy may help in the sense that they may put on a better presentation. So I think it's more about cautiousness and less about conscience. In other words, I don't think the appeal is going to be, hey, you know, it's wrong to do these things. You have to have empathy for. other people. I think the appeal is you have to be more cautious because if you do this, you're going to get caught, you're going to be sent to prison, and you're going to ruin your life. So I think it's less about conscience and more about caution. When you hear O'Reilly Ler reportedly tell this victim that there was something wrong with him, that was really interesting, if that's true, because that would suggest awareness. That would suggest if the allegations

are true, right? Consciousness of guilt. Have you heard patients say that before? You know, I feel like there's something wrong with me. They, like, they know it, right? There's the difference between those who say, I didn't do anything wrong. That person's wrong. They're crazy. They're the, yeah, I'm justified, you know, I'm, but to hear someone say, there's something wrong with me, that stood out.

I have. I've had people say that to me in the context of the people they know. I do these things and they don't bother me. I don't feel guilty about them. I'm not like other people. I've had people tell me that and it's extremely chilling. If you had the opportunity to speak to a. O'Reilly Lerner. What kind of questions would you want to ask? I would want to ask him why he does

what he does it meaning? What is it serving? Does it gratify him in some way? Does he enjoy the control? Does he enjoy the power? Does he feel bad about it? I think I know the answer. But I would want to know from him, in his own words, you know, what motivates this behavior and does he feel like he's compelled to do it in a way that he can't stop himself from doing it? What a case. Dr. Daniel Bober, always appreciate you taking the time. Thank you so much. Thank you so much. And that's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, wherever you should get your podcasts. We're also up on NBC's Peacock as well. If you want to follow me, X, Instagram, you can check out my News Nation show, Jesse Weber Live, Monday through Friday, 11 p.m. Eastern.

I'll see you next time, everybody.