A firefighter and his wife have appeared in court accused of forcing an underage person to have s*x at their Florida home. Sascha Engel and Alyssa Engel were arrested after the 16-year-old boy came forward and made allegations about what the pair allegedly made him do at their Riverview house.
Sascha, 39, worked as a Fire Rescue lieutenant for Hillsborough County, and his wife, 37-year-old Alyssa, used to work for the state attorney’s office before they were arrested, told WPLG.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said that the Engels had a 16-year-old male visiting their home overnight in March when they forced him to have s*x with Alyssa Engel. The teenager later told a trusted adult about the incident, and that adult went to the police, WFLA-TV reports.
During an interview with officers, Alyssa admitted to walking around naked in front of the teenager. However, she denied anything else, especially intercourse, happened between the pair.
Despite this, both were charged with three counts of unlawful s*x with a minor. The trial will be moved out of Hillsborough County to Polk County in order to avoid any conflict from Alyssa Engel’s previous employment at the state attorney’s office in Hillsborough County.
Sheriff Chad Chronister slammed the couple in a statement about the arrests. He said: “It is both disgusting and deeply disappointing to see not one, but two adults join together to take advantage of a young child, especially when one of those adults is a trusted authority in our community. This egregious violation of innocence is disgraceful and goes against every value we stand for in this community.”
Sascha Engel was placed on administrative leave without pay after his arrest and on Friday, the Engels appeared in court, where a judge ordered a bail of $50k per count, which added up to $300k for the two.
WFLA-TV published a news video report with a video of the two in court. Police said the investigation is ongoing, but they believe it was an isolated incident.