On Wednesday, May 5, two men from Chattanooga, Tennessee, 36-year-old Joseph Farmer and 27-year-old Trevor Casteel, were charged with a slew of crimes, including rape and kidnapping. The victims in this harrowing case are a Kentucky college student, 18 years of age, who had been visiting downtown Nashville.
Investigators followed up with the victim’s accounts and it became evident that the suspect’s misconduct did not begin with the kidnapping. At a bar on Broadway Street, the student believes she was drugged before interacting with the assailants. After that, the suspects allegedly drove the victim around in a Jeep Grand Cherokee, subjecting her to sexual assault ignoring her cries to “stop, get off.” They ultimately used her debit card at a variety of locations, including an ATM, a Shell gas station and a Waffle House.
Farmer has a lengthy criminal record in Davidson County. His prior charges date back to 2013 and involve criminal impersonation, weapon felony possession, evasion of arrest, drug paraphernalia offenses, and theft. On the other hand, Casteel’s record in Hamilton County from 2016 includes aggravated robbery, property theft, firearm felony possession, and aggravated burglary. To make matters worse, he cut off his ankle monitor the same January he was due for arrest.
In the victim’s debit card history detectives found a $303 withdrawal from an ATM, an $83.22 charge at the Shell gas station, and a $12 charge incurred at the Waffle House. Later that day, the suspect allowed the victim to use her phone to coordinate with her friend a rendezvous location at a McDonald’s on Broadway – the friend, however, did not see the suspects.
That same day, officers had noticed Farmer and Casteel, the latter was wanted at that point for three separate warrants, failed to complete a narcotics transaction on 4th Avenue South in Nashville. The two men fled and Farmer was found with various drug baggies and money. Afterwards, he admitted to the investigators that he and the victim had done drugs and had intercourse; yet he claimed the sexual contact was consensual.
Both Farmer and Casteel face severe accusations such as aggravated rape, aggravated kidnapping, five counts of debit card fraud, and theft. In addition, Farmer is looking at two more charges for drug possession, and he has been detained without bond. As for now, Casteel remains wanted.