A Florida man pleaded not guilty to raping a 22-year-old deckhand aboard his Nantucket yacht after his wife, toddler son and nanny had already sailed back to the Sunshine State.
Christian Bradley Williams, 54, was arraigned Friday on three counts of rape and indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14, stemming from an Aug. 9 attack on his boat, the “Chimera,” according to a police report obtained by the Nantucket Current. The victim had started working for Williams through Nantucket Launch Company only two months earlier, in June.
The woman’s family departed the vessel first. That afternoon, Williams allegedly told the employee around 4:15 p.m. “to put on a dress” because he wanted “to go somewhere nice,” the police report states. When she emerged wearing it, Williams told her, “Wow, you look amazing,” and the victim told police that was the first moment she sensed something might be wrong.
Williams reportedly said he “didn’t want [his wife] knowing they were going out to dinner” and remarked that he had always “wanted to make a move” on his wife’s friend, according to the report. Throughout the evening, he peppered the young woman with unwanted comments including “Hey sweety” and “You’re my sugar mommy tonight,” and told her that her boyfriend, who had already left Nantucket for the summer, was “stupid for not locking you down, you’re so beautiful.”
By 8 p.m., the employee had grown frightened. She told Williams, “I want to go back now,” the report said. Before leaving, Williams persuaded her to put her own card down for the restaurant bill, claiming, “I don’t want [my wife] seeing my transaction.” He then withdrew $500 in cash and gave it to her even though the check totaled only $250.
Back at the harbor, the woman said she was going to bed around 8:30 p.m., but Williams became “very persistent” about one more drink. He allegedly prepared a rum beverage, and after they went upstairs, she repeated that she did not want to be near him.
After drinking the rum, she became dizzy and lost her vision, she told police, noting she had consumed only one alcoholic drink at the restaurant and one earlier that day. She said Williams then pinned her down with his full body weight and sexually assaulted her.
During the attack, she told him, “I’m your employee, please get off me,” while he held her down forcefully, according to the report. Williams then moved her to his own bed, where she passed out immediately.
The woman woke to find evidence of sexual assault on her body. She contacted Max Shapiro, her employer and owner of Nantucket Launch Company, and told him she was “naked and bleeding” in Williams’ bed, the report said. A launch captain retrieved her and brought her to the dock, where she confronted Shapiro: “You set me up with this housing.”
Shapiro denied her account of their dockside exchange. “The recap of the conversation on the dock is not at all accurate,” he said in a statement to The Post. “I know there is an active police investigation, and we are supporting the investigation in every way possible. I am not going to comment any further out of respect and concern to [the victim] and the investigation.”
The woman told police that Shapiro had responded to her initial disclosure by saying, “Why are you telling me this? Get to work, are you clocked in?” He later told her to “clock out and go home,” and she quit on the spot. Walking away crying, she called her father and said, “something bad just happened on the boat. I was assaulted. I need you to pick me up.”
She proceeded to Nantucket Cottage Hospital and underwent a sexual assault examination around 10 a.m. The results, returned from the Massachusetts State Police forensics laboratory on Sept. 1, came back “positive for male DNA,” according to the police report. Williams was subsequently located and arrested, though the report did not specify the exact date.
Williams, who has ties to the US Navy and previously served as commander of the USS Springfield submarine according to Facebook photos and posts, was being held on $50,000 cash bail or $500,000 surety. His attorney, Tom Kokonowski, said during a Tuesday hearing that he expected Williams to post bail and that Williams’ wife was bringing the money to Nantucket.