Lehigh County man is accused of raping a 19-year-old he met on a dating app

A man from Hanover Township, Lehigh County, is accused of raping a 19-year-old woman he met through an online dating app.

Lorens DeJesus Gomez, 22, of the 500 block of Cedar Hill Drive, is also charged with felony interception of communications. Karen J. Schular, the public defender assigned to Gomez, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.

Pennsylvania State Police in Bethlehem were called to an area hospital shortly after 4:30 a.m. April 25 for a reported sexual assault. The woman reported meeting Gomez on the app in February. The couple reportedly had a phone conversation and agreed to meet.

The woman said she told Gomez she wanted to braid his hair but did not have sex with him during the meeting, authorities said

The woman arrived at Gomez’s township home shortly after midnight on April 25 and later fell asleep in his bed, court records show. She woke up around 3 a.m. to find Gomez sexually assaulting her, police said. About an hour later, the woman was able to pretend she had received a call from her father and left the house, state police said.

The woman was able to describe Gomez’s bedroom to investigators. She also provided text messages and photos from Gomez. Texts from Gomez after the incident allegedly said, “Are you okay?” and “I’m sorry” with a sad face emoji, according to court documents.

State police obtained a search warrant for Gomez’s home on April 25 just before 10 p.m. According to court documents, investigators seized various items from Gomez’s bedroom as evidence.

Gomez admitted in an interview with investigators about 10 p.m. April 25 that he had sex with the victim and filmed the encounter without her consent, authorities said. “I don’t know if she was okay with it…I thought she was okay with it,” Gomez reportedly said.

Gomez was arraigned April 26 before District Judge Ronald S. Manescu, who set bail at $250,000. He was taken to the Lehigh County Jail in lieu of bail.

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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann can be reached at [email protected].