New details have emerged in the case of a Santa Clarita realtor arrested in March in connection to a reported sexual assault that occurred in Las Vegas last year.
The release of redacted case documents in the case of Santa Clarita realtor Mike Bjorkman, who is accused of two counts of reported sexual assault in Las Vegas, has prompted a statement from his defense team.
Bjorkman’s defense counsel David Chesnoff noted the release of case documents, even if they are redacted, has the potential to unfairly corrupt public opinion in ongoing cases.
“It’s outrageous that the police would release unsubstantiated information and hearsay statements to the public,” Chesnoff said in a phone call Thursday. “We are unequivocally denying the actual allegations in Nevada.”
Bjorkman was arrested on Monday, March 8 in Miami-Dade County, Florida in connection with a reported sexual assault on Aug. 29, 2020.
According to the arrest affidavit provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), the head investigator on the case, Detective Jason Lafreniere with the LVMPD Sex Crimes Unit was assigned to the reported “drugging and drug-facilitated sexual assaults” in September 2020.
See Related: Santa Clarita Realtor Arrested For Alleged Las Vegas Sexual Assault
The incidents reportedly occurred during a work-related event between August 27th through August 29th, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Initially, the victim, whose identity has not been released in accordance with Nevada State Law, initially reported that she “began feeling extremely intoxicated after having only one drink earlier in the evening. (Redacted) then lost total memory and she next recalled waking up in her hotel room, alone and nude.”
After discussions with coworkers, the victim learned that two other women disclosed being drugged and sexually assaulted during other work-related events in Hawaii and Mexico. Together they concluded that Bjorkman was their reported assailant.
“After the initial contact, with (name redacted), I received phone calls from numerous people informing me they had information and/or experiences of being drugged, and/or sexually assaulted, involving Mike Bjorkman,” Lafreniere wrote.
Several other reported instances of sexual assault conducted by Bjorkman are also mentioned in the court documents. However, they are not a part of the two sexual assault charges for which he was arrested.
Several individuals interviewed by Lafreniere stated that Bjorkman was known at the time of the reported incident to possess and consume Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB), also known as a “date rape drug.” The victim in particular attested that she witnessed Bjorkman and another individual in possession of a “5 Hour Energy” bottle that contained GHB during the August 2020 event in Las Vegas, which was used “recreationally.”
On Friday, August 28, the victim attested that she consensually consumed a capful of GHB, provided by Bjorkman. Although she has limited memory of that night, she noted that she did consensually “hook-up” with (names redacted).
According to the victim’s statement, on Saturday, August 29, 2020, she joined the group of real estate professionals at a work event and then later at the hotel pool. During this time, she took a “recreational drug,” later identified as a single pill of Ecstasy, which she reportedly divided up and took over the course of the weekend before going to the pool, where she drank cocktails.
After the pool closed, the victim joined the group in Bjorkman’s suite for another group get-together. After joining Bjorkman in a walk of the Las Vegas strip and gambling at the casino, they returned to the suite, where the victim’s “memory becomes spotty and limited,” according to the report.
The victim next recalled waking up in a bed with another person (name redacted) and Mike Bjorkman. She reported that Bjorkman’s hands were inside of her pants and digitally penetrated her.
The victim told investigators that she “brushed it off” and rolled over, initially planning not to say anything about the incident. She next remembered sitting in the hotel suite drinking, then next sitting on a bed. The victim reportedly changed her flight plans to an earlier time and flew home later that same day.
After returning home, the victim reportedly asked Bjorkman in a phone call if he had drugged her since she knew he had GHB. He reportedly denied these claims, and told the victim that she had been “wasted” and had been drinking “50/50 vodka sodas all night.”
About two weeks after the reported incident, the victim recalled being at home reading a book about the “unconsciousness mind” when “the words began coming off the pages,” and she began to shake, according to the affidavit. She then experienced a flashback to the events of the evening of the reported sexual assault in Las Vegas.
According to court documents, the victim recalled that after she rolled over and Bjorkman removed his hand from her pants, he took her from the bed to a massage room in the suite, where he proceeded to remove her pants and sexually assault her.
The victim told investigators that she was unable to move and still has difficulty remembering the full assault, but she remembered having her hands over her head.
“(Name redacted) explained that she cried while Mike committed the act and after Mike finished, he stood near (name redacted)’s head and held her while she cried,” read the report. “(name redacted) next recalled being in the living room of the suite.”
She stated that she has been “‘reliving’ the incident over and over since the memory came back to her,” according to court documents.
The victim explained to investigators that she still has gaps in her memory from the weekend of the incident in Las Vegas as of her interview with Det. Lafreniere on October 1, 2020.
The victim told investigators that when she first returned home from Las Vegas, Bjorkman told her repeatedly, “Don’t tell (name redacted). Don’t tell (name redacted).” Initially, she assumed this comment was about the partying in Las Vegas and the incident with Bjorkman’s hand in her pants, but now believes he was referring to the reported sexual assault, according to the affidavit.
The clothes she was wearing during the reported assault had been preserved and were turned over to LVMPD and tested for DNA as evidence in the case. No information is available to KHTS as to the results of the DNA testing.
Bjorkman’s defense counsel denied the allegations made against him and noted that the release of the Detective’s report to the public is inappropriate as it is “unsubstantiated information and hearsay statements.”
Bjorkman is due back in court for a pretrial hearing in the Las Vegas Justice Court on May 6, 2021.
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