Survivors of Army major's sexual assaults include a trans woman left bloodied. She and others speak out

Three women who were attacked by former Army Ranger Jonathan Batt — including a transgender woman who required reconstructive surgery after a sexual assault — have gone public with their stories, questioning why it took so long to investigate and prosecute him.

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Batt was tried in a court-martial and was convicted June 23 of rape, sexual assault, and other crimes, including aggravated assault by strangulation, that his victims said took place between August 2020 and February 2023. The next day, he was sentenced to 53 years in military prison. He also was dismissed from the Army and must forfeit all pay and allowances.

Nearly 20 women accused Batt of assaulting them. Three of them were interviewed recently by Washington, D.C.’s NBC affiliate. Most of the attacks took place in Northern Virginia, some on Batt’s yacht in the Potomac River.

“He was selfish, sadist, and sexually obsessed,” Capt. Stephanie Ryder, an Army prosecutor, told the station.

“The women in this case verbally and physically resisted,” she continued. “Most of them testified that they verbally told Maj. Batt ‘no’ or words to that effect. If they weren’t able to verbalize because of the strangulation that was happening or because of a force that was happening, they were trying to move their body away. They were trying escape from him. Many of the women testified that he physically overpowered them, but they were smaller than him, that they were pinned down. That they were restrained and they could not physically get away.”

The three survivors who spoke to the station agreed to have their faces shown and their names used.

Erica Carosella, the trans woman, was the first to accuse Batt. “‘No’ was not a word that he understood,” she said.

Carosella, who had met Batt through a dating app, went on a short ride with him on his yacht, then went back to his apartment, where he forced himself on her. She had recently undergone gender-affirming surgery and hadn’t been cleared by her medical team for sexual activity. “I pushed him off me. I pleaded with him that tonight was not the night,” she said.

She was left bloodied and in need of reconstructive surgery. She went to police in Alexandria, Virginia. At first she told them she wasn’t ready to go forward with her case, then asked them to resume their investigation a year later. She had a three-hour interview with the police department in August 2021 but was told her case wasn’t sufficient to prosecute Batt.

Alexandria police told the station the local prosecutor, called commonwealth’s attorney in Virginia, makes the decision whether to prosecute. Commonwealth’s Attorney Bryan Porter declined to say why his office did not prosecute Batt in Carosella’s case or any other, adding that he was “gratified the military system was able to hold the offender accountable for his heinous acts.”

Rachel Sirota told the TV station that Batt raped her on a Jet Ski. She blamed herself at first, so she didn't go to the police, but an Alexandria detective found her based on a tip from another accuser. She and the detective spoke for only 20 minutes. The third woman who spoke to the station, Emily Foster, said her conversation with police was just 14 minutes.

“Those victims were interviewed and then never heard from law enforcement or anyone in the Alexandria Police Department or prosecutor’s office ever again,” Ryan Guilds, who represented the women, told the station.

Batt was finally prosecuted this year by Ryder and Lt. Col. Greg Vetere of the Army’s Office of Special Trial Counsel. He claimed to have had consensual sex with the women. “He testified that these women wanted this and that he was fulfilling a need for them,” Ryder said. “Maj. Batt had this compulsion. He could not control himself in any scenario. It didn’t matter if that woman was someone he met on Bumble or Tinder or if it was a new member to his unit who had arrived for their first day of work that he found attractive.” He even accused the women of making up their stories, even though they didn’t know one another but told of similar experiences.

Sirota said she found Batt’s assertions “extremely violating.” He was convicted on charges in Carosella’s case and those of seven other women, but not Sirota’s or Foster’s.

“I am happy that I received justice, but quite honestly, it has been a long time coming,” Carosella said. “It’s been four years.”