Witnesses had to intervene twice to get a man to stop raping an unconscious 17-year-old girl during a recent teenage house party, according to Tarpon Springs Police.

  • Nicholas Gjelaj, 18, facing multiple sexual battery charges
  • Witness who tried to intervene battered until she couldn't defend herself
  • Gjelaj being held on $110,000 bond

Nicholas Gjelaj, 18, was arrested last Friday on two counts of sexual battery and one count of simple battery. According to an arrest report, witnesses described the juvenile victim as “knocked out", “gone", and “completely limp.”

Police said multiple witnesses saw Gjelaj raping the unconscious teen and intervened at 10 p.m., on Nov. 22 at a home located on the 600-block of Eunice Drive. A female witness pulled Gjelaj off the victim and the defendant began punching her, according to the report.

That witness said, “Stop hitting me, I’m not trying to fight you.”

Gjelaj replied, “You’re smart.”

According to police, that witness was battered to the point where she could no longer defend herself, and Gjelaj went back to sexually battering the victim. That’s when other witnesses had to intervene until the suspect stopped all contact.

The victim had to be slapped in the face several times before waking, according to the report. Police said they’re waiting for lab results to see if the victim was given a date rape drug.

Sgt. Robert Faugno said the victim’s father picked her up at the home and drove his daughter to the Tarpon Springs Police Department.

Neighbor Monica Lange said she has been worried that something bad was going to happen at that home, where teenagers often party.

“There’s no control, there’s no parental involvement whatsoever and they’re drunk, they’re stumbling and I’m like, somebody is going to get killed,” she said. “Two people have been taken away with an ambulance already because they’re completely wasted and unconscious.”

Lange said over the past year police have been called out to the home multiple times.

“What happens is there’ll be like 30 kids in there, and they all duck out and run all different ways with their backpacks,” she said. “There’s no problem having a few people over but they have all sorts of people, I’ve had strangers walk into my house. You know, ‘Is this where the party is?’”

A teenage girl who claims to own the home declined a request for an interview.

Gjelaj is being held in the Pinellas County jail on a $110,000 bond.