2 Sentenced in ‘Date Rape Drug’ Attacks

Even now, after all they have heard and seen, the memories of what happened to them remain elusive. And merciful or not, the fact that they cannot remember how they were drugged, then raped, sometimes repeatedly, does little to ease the humiliation.

So on Tuesday, when it came time for their attackers to be sentenced, the women, one by one, told a Los Angeles courtroom how what Steven Michael Hagemann and Danny Richard Bohannon did to them had forever changed their lives.

And when their tearful statements had concluded, a Superior Court judge sentenced Hagemann and Bohannon to the maximum terms available under the law.

In what is believed to be the largest “date rape drug” case ever concluded in California, Hagemann, 38, was given 77 years for raping or attempting to rape eight women. Bohannon, 39, was sentenced to 19 years for similar assaults on two women.

The attacks, authorities said, occurred over two years at a Lawndale warehouse that had been converted into a home and office by Hagemann, a freelance disc jockey.

It was at that warehouse, dubbed The Compound by Hagemann, that the women were sexually assaulted--and photographed in non-consensual sex--after being knocked out with a potent, easy-to-manufacture depressant known as GHB, or gammahydroxybutyrate.

The drug, authorities said, has been linked to both an increasing number of sex crimes and serious illnesses and deaths nationwide. One Texas teenager died after being given the drug, and a Georgia woman lapsed into a coma.

In this case, Judge Robert J. Perry noted Tuesday, the drug was used in the rape or sodomy of seven women, the attempted rape of another, and the poisoning of six other people, including several men who were rendered incapable of helping the women fend off attacks.

Branding Hagemann a “sexual predator,” the judge called Hagemann’s crimes “extraordinary” in both the number of victims and the nature of the attacks.

Even after having been questioned once about alleged assaults against women, Perry said, Hagemann continued to drug and rape women, demonstrating “his perverse and intractable criminal intent.”

And, Perry added, “There is no doubt in the court’s mind that the defendant caused deep and lasting emotional harm on his unsuspecting victims.”

Of that, there could be little doubt Tuesday.

During brief but wrenching remarks, two women told the court how the attacks had scarred them.

“Ever since I figured out what Mr. Hagemann did . . . I have gone through much anger and lots of depression,” one victim told the court.

“I have not forgiven Mr. Hagemann, but I have learned to pity him,” she said, breaking into tears, “because normal people do not do this to other people.”

Another victim, who spent nearly a minute crying at a courtroom podium before she could bring herself to speak, told the court that her life had been upended by her attackers.

“I have been shattered emotionally,” she said.

“My mother died one month after they assaulted me,” the woman said, sobbing. “And because of the emotional state that I was in, I could not attend my own mother’s funeral. That is something I will never have a chance to do again.”

Her emotional torment, she said, had not only left her suspicious and frightened but cost her a job and left her financially “destroyed.”

Even her faith, she said, had been stripped away by the attack. “I lost belief in God,” she said. “I’m still trying to get it back.”

Before the sentencing, Hagemann’s attorney unsuccessfully sought a new trial on grounds that one of the victims--one he described as a pivotal witness--had lied about her background. That witness is an X-rated film star, claimed attorney Tony Cogliandro, offering to the court as alleged evidence a dozen or more pornographic videotapes and a copy of Hustler magazine that he said featured the victim.

“So what?” Perry responded.

Not only was he not convinced the two women were the same person, the judge said, but he did not share the belief that the victim’s testimony was crucial evidence in the trial. To the contrary, Perry said, there was other “overwhelming” evidence of Hagemann’s criminal conduct.

After the sentencing, Cogliandro criticized the decision and said he would “in all probability” file an appeal.

“It was a very lovely speech the judge gave, but it would have been nice if he had done what they teach you in law school, which is listen to all arguments before he reached his decision,” Cogliandro said. “He had what I think was obviously a prepared speech, and I am sure we will see it in his reelection campaign.”

But as Cogliandro assailed the sentences, law enforcement officials and several of the victims praised them.

“The sentences were fair. We got what we wanted,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Renee Korn.

While the judge had raised questions about the one-year sentence facing a third defendant who pleaded guilty rather than face trial, prosecutor Korn said the case against Stanley Albers, 33, could not be compared with that of Hagemann or Bohannon. The evidence against Albers, Korn said, was “not nearly as strong” as it was against the other defendants.

Meanwhile, one of the victims who spoke at court Tuesday voiced the general relief that the case was finally resolved.

“After today, I don’t even want to think about Steve,” said the young woman, who appeared in court with her mother.

And she praised authorities for how they conducted the case.

“I want to thank the court. . . . The court believed us and did not blame us,” she said, breaking into tears.