Ryan William Nelson, a 33-year-old Bunnell resident of County Road 2006, has been at the Flagler County jail since Wednesday on four felony charges, including a second-degree felony count of marital rape, an alleged assault that took place last Mother’s Day.
Nelson is being held on no bond for the sexual battery charge and other charges. Assistant State Attorney Melissa Clark, who is prosecuting the case, this morning filed a motion to deny him bond until the disposition of the case.
In a phone call authorities recorded with her cooperation the day after the assault, the alleged victim, 27, told Nelson how sad she was about what had taken place the previous night, “you hitting me, you raping me and thinking it is funny. Like you tell me you love me and you do those things to me.” In the call, Nelson blamed her for taking the child they have in common from him previously. (The woman had reported him for domestic abuse in 2018, when he had a three-month span without seeing his son, she told authorities.)
“And this gives you the right to force yourself on me?” She asked him.
“Yes,” he told her.
And violate “me without my permission?” she asked him.
“Yes,” he told her, “because fuck you, you are going to fucking pay for what you did,
you are going to pay. You were always going to pay for what you did, you were always going to pay for what you did.”
“How am I going to pay?”
“By treating you this way and you putting up with it,” he told her.
“So you keep beating the shit out of me and raping me?”
“We will see, I may be getting close to being done maybe considering this equal, but again you were never going to get away with those things,” he told her. He said he loved her, but was “still going to do horrible things to you.” He laughed when she told him she didn’t want him to hurt her–especially on Mother’s Day.
The alleged rape was not reported until last Tuesday, as Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies were investigating another disturbance at Ryan residence. The woman had called authorities to report that the night before, the couple got into an argument that escalated to the point that he she saw “stars” as he struck her head repeatedly, put his hands around her neck and threw her against the front door. She alleged he told her that “he wouldn’t hesitate to violently remind her who’s in charge when she gets an attitude or gets out of line.”
The couple’s son, who is autistic, witnessed the entire episode. The child’s mother told authorities that Nelson had been becoming more aggressive with their child and their was abusing their dog, a German shepherd. She told authorities she had a nine-minute audio recording of him “making verbal threats and statements to [her], advising her if she ever leaves him, he will kill her, if she ever calls the cops, he will kill the cops as well and if she ever takes him to court that he will kill the judge.”
It was during that investigation that she also alleged he had assaulted her on Mother’s Day after she repeatedly denied consent to be intimate with him. As the investigation continued, the woman, in the deputies’ presence, called Nelson. Their conversation was recorded. Nelson made the statements quoted above and many more using viler language demeaning the woman’s appearance and other attributes.
Nelson is also charged with tampering with a witness or a victim in a first-degree felony proceeding, itself a first-degree felony, a count of domestic battery by strangulation, and a count of false imprisonment, both third-degree felonies. The Sheriff’s Office has filed for a “risk protection order,” through which the sheriff would have the authority to seize Nelson’s weapons. The order would be issued by a judge.
According to the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence, “Approximately 10-14% of married women are raped by their husbands in the United States. Approximately one third of women report having ‘unwanted sex’ with their partner,” noting that it is “a myth that marital rape is less serious than other forms of sexual violence. There are many physical and emotional consequences that may accompany marital rape.”
Abuse Hotline: Report Abuse Online
The Florida Abuse Hotline accepts reports 24 hours a day and 7 days a week of known or suspected child abuse, neglect, or abandonment and reports of known or suspected abuse, neglect, or exploitation of a vulnerable adult. Please use the links below to report abuse of a child or an adult.
- Report Child Abuse Online
- Report Adult Abuse Online
- National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800/656-4673
- Chat online with RAINN, he nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization
If you suspect or know of a child or vulnerable adult in immediate danger, call 911.
TEL: 1-800-962-2873
TTY: 711 or 1-800-955-8771
FAX: 1-800-914-0004
Any person who knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect, that a child is abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent, legal custodian, caregiver, or other person responsible for the child’s welfare is a mandatory reporter. § 39.201(1)(a), Florida Statutes.
To report an allegation in Spanish or Creole, please call 1-800-962-2873, for TTY use 711 or 1-800-955-8771. This toll free number is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week with counselors waiting to assist you.
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