Two Tallahassee attorneys were arrested after allegedly subjecting a woman who worked in their home to sexual contact without her consent.
Gabriel and Sarah Warren, a married couple, were arrested Tuesday on a charge of sexual battery in connection with an incident that occurred a year ago at their home, according to the probable cause affidavit. The Warrens were booked into the Leon County Detention Facility and released Wednesday after posting $10,000 bond. An attorney for Sarah Warren maintains the sexual contact was “consensual.”
According to court records, the victim, an adult woman, told police she was sexually battered by the Warrens after they returned from a date on March 10, 2023. The Warrens, both 39, allegedly told the woman that they had been thinking about sleeping with her for months and began kissing and touching her.
The woman told the Warrens that she wanted to go home and think about it “as an attempt to get out of the situation,” the arrest reports say, but each time she tried to get up off the couch, the Warrens “would push her back down against the couch.” The victim also told police that Sarah Warren was “super drunk” when she got home.
“(The victim) told Sarah she was uncomfortable and this was her job repeatedly,” the arrest report says. (The victim) stated she was able to stand up but whenever she would move towards the door Sarah would block her path.”
The woman told Tallahassee police that Gabriel Warren performed a sex act on her at the direction of Sarah Warren. After several attempts to get to the door, the victim was “able to collect her things and leave,” the arrest report says.
Alex Morris, a Tallahassee attorney representing Sarah Warren, said they learned about the arrest warrants Friday and reached out to the prosecutor because the couple never had the chance to provide their side of the story.
“We believe that this was a completely consensual circumstance, and we have no idea why this other lady takes a position otherwise,” Morris said. “Neither of the Warrens felt that they were engaged in a crime or had committed a crime.”
During the incident, the woman sent a text message to her ex-boyfriend that read “SOS.” Immediately after leaving the Warrens’ home, she called a family friend to tell him what had happened. He could tell she was in tears and said she appeared to be hyperventilating. He told police that she said she “kept trying to force her way out but everywhere she went she kept being confronted by the Warrens.”
Investigators had the woman’s clothing tested for DNA, which came back as a match last month, according to police reports. They also found a text message between the Warrens from a couple of weeks after the incident in which both said they had not “heard anything” from the woman and used a clenched teeth emoji. Investigators said there was no reference in the Warrens’ text messages about sexual activity with the woman.
The sexual battery charge against the Warrens is a second-degree felony. However, under Florida law, the charge could be enhanced to a first-degree felony because “multiple perpetrators” were involved, the arrest reports say.
Both Warrens have worked for prominent law firms. Sarah Warren worked for Bryant Miller, Olive, which has offices in Tallahassee, Tampa and elsewhere. She was a member of the firm’s public finance and special district finance practice groups.
Her biography was scrubbed from the firm’s website on Wednesday. A spokesperson for the firm said she has been placed on administrative leave “indefinitely.”
Gabriel Warren, a shareholder with the Tallahassee-based Rutledge Ecenia law firm, specializes in administrative law and civil litigation, according to the firm’s website. He’s also a registered lobbyist for HCA Healthcare. The law firm had no comment.
The Warrens appeared virtually Wednesday from the county jail for their first court appearance. County Judge Nina Ashenafi Richardson set bond for both at $10,000. They were also ordered to surrender their passports. However, Richardson granted Sarah Warren’s request to travel to another state to visit family. She wiped tears from her eyes after prosecutors agreed to the travel request.
Morris, Sarah Warren’s attorney, said he delivered evidence to investigators along with a letter stating the Warrens wanted to provide a statement, but they never heard back. They didn’t get to provide their comments until Tuesday and then were arrested immediately after, Morris said.
“I’m really disappointed that law enforcement didn’t conduct a thorough investigation,” Morris said. “It’s a shame, and unfortunately, just because it’s viewed as moving the widgets down the road, it ruins people’s lives.”
Fred Conrad, a Tallahassee attorney representing Gabriel Warren, did not immediately return a phone call from the Democrat.
Breaking & trending news reporter Elena Barrera can be reached at ebarrera@tallahassee.com. Follow her on X: @elenabarreraaa.
