A 24-year-old Crossville, Ala., man has been charged with raping an Indiana woman he met on the dating app Tinder after his co-workers reportedly heard her screams and came to her rescue.
Jeffrey Scott Vanherreweghe was arrested Jan. 17 on charges of felony rape, felony criminal confinement and felony sexual battery stemming from the alleged attack, according to Indiana State Police.
Jeffrey Scott VanherreweghePolice say Vanherreweghe, who had been in Indiana working on an equipment-installing job, initially had a consensual relationship with the woman.
On Jan. 16, authorities in Indiana were contacted about a woman seeking medical care at an Evansville-area hospital after being raped, authorities said.
"Investigators learned that days earlier the [victim] had met [Vanherreweghe] through the dating app Tinder," Indiana State Police said in a news release. "Vanherreweghe, who was working locally installing equipment at a facility for his company, met the female [Jan. 16] at the Quality Inn in Huntingburg."
Huntingburg is 60 miles northwest of Evansville, Ind.
Indiana police say that after initially participating in consensual sex, "Vanherreweghe became violent, performing multiple sexual acts on the [woman] against her wishes while she was attempting to scream for help and for him to stop," the release states. "Investigators learned that co-workers of Vanherreweghe knocked on the hotel door multiple times to intervene; Vanherreweghe allegedly told them to go away."
The man's co-workers were able to use a key they got from the motel's front desk to unlock the door, authorities said. That "allowed for the female to get free from Vanherreweghe long enough to unlock the deadbolt to the room. The female was able to retrieve her belongings and was escorted from the room by Vanherreweghe's co-workers."
Indiana State Police interviewed witnesses, crime scene technicians collected evidence from the motel room, and investigators interviewed Vanherreweghe, officials said. Afterward, Vanherreweghe was placed in custody and booked into the Dubois County Security Center in Jasper, Ind.
The Herald newspaper in Jasper, Ind., reports that Vanherreweghe is being held on $15,000 bond and appeared in court last Thursday. He was ordered not to have to contact with the complainant if released.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.