Tampa man gets
200 years in gay rapes

A Tampa, Fla., man was sentenced to 200 years in prison on Friday for drugging and raping nine young men, the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported. Steven Lorenzo, 46, met his victims in gay bars and slipped them the date-rape drug GHB. He would then bring them to his Tampa home and sexually torture them. Two of the victims, both 26, ended up dead. Police have also investigated Lorenzo in connection with the disappearance of three gay men from a complex across the street from a condo owned by Lorenzo. However, "we have never been able to make a connection in those cases," Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman Det. Katherine Collins told the newspaper. Seven of Lorenzo's victims testified against him. After the drugs wore off, they woke up naked and in pain, some remembering bondage or forced sex, the newspaper reported. Lorenzo's attorney argued the sex acts were consensual, the newspaper reported. In addition, according to a federal affidavit, Lorenzo had an accomplice in the deaths of the two men. Chicago resident Scott Schweickert confessed to raping and killing the two men, the affidavit said. He will face a federal trial later, the newspaper reported. (Advocate.com)