Woman Charged With Trying To Intimidate Victim In Bristol Rape Case

Charges were filed last week against a Bensalem woman accused of planning to try to bribe the victim of an alleged rape so she wouldn’t testify against the defendants.

Kalesha Cruz, 28, was arrested and arraigned before a district judge Friday morning. Bucks County Detectives said they uncovered Cruz was working with her fiancée Kareem Evans, 21, to try to contact the woman he is accused raping with another man in Bristol Borough over summer.

Court papers say that Cruz talked multiple times with Evans about paying off the victim before the preliminary hearing. The phone calls and eventually a letter were cited in court papers as evidence of the alleged plot.

County detectives, who filed the affidavit and conducted the investigation, noted in court papers the first call between Cruz and Evans took place just days after he and Qudre McMilan, 18, were charged in the alleged gunpoint rape of a 19-year-old Philadelphia woman reported to be working as a prostitute.

In a phone call between Cruz and Evans, he asked his fiancée to call the victim and wait outside Bristol Borough District Court “with a couple dollars” to pay off the victim the day of his preliminary hearing.

The two continued to discuss ways to try to get in contact with the victim after the preliminary hearing, authorities said.

In a late August letter Evans mailed  a letter to Cruz, Evans admitted he and McMilan went to rob the victim but things got out of control.

At the September preliminary hearing, the victim said Evans threatening to kill her before having her perform sex acts on him and McMilian. Bristol Borough District Court Judge Frank W. Perenteau Sr. forwarded changes including rape and robbery onto Doylestown for trial. 

Cruz was charged with conspiracy witness intimidation and criminal use of a communication facility. She was sent to Bucks County prison on 10 percent of $250,000 bail.

Evans and McMilian each remain in county lockup on 10 percent of $5 million bail.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.

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