photo by: File photo

Axel Bordelon in 2014, left, and the Douglas County County Judicial and Law Enforcement Center.

A former Lawrence resident accused of sexual assault told law enforcement authorities that he “definitely had regrets” about his interactions with an acquaintance but he did not believe he had committed any crimes.

Axel R. Bordelon, a 28-year-old man who now lives out of state, has been charged with three felony sex crimes stemming from a woman who formerly lived in Lawrence reporting to police in 2020 that he physically and sexually abused her five to six years earlier, between June 2014 and January 2015, while they were working together on a comic book project.

The woman, who would have been 19 at the time of the alleged incidents, told police the first incident occurred while she was visiting Bordelon’s apartment. When she got up to leave, she said Bordelon grabbed her by the arm and started to pull her into his bedroom. She said that she tried to stop the alleged assault by grabbing the door frame but that he overpowered her and attempted to sexually assault her on his bed.

“(The woman) advised during the struggle she told Axel that she just wanted to go home and kept repeating it over and over,” police wrote in the affidavit. “(She) advised Axel was crying and (told) her that it was too late.”

When speaking with police, Bordelon denied that he had intercourse with the woman, which an officer had appeared to insinuate. But when the officer clarified that Bordelon may have sexually touched the woman with his fingers, Bordelon “then nodded his head up and down, which (the officer) took as (Bordelon) was agreeing with what (the officer) had just stated.”

Bordelon has been charged in Douglas County District Court with two counts of aggravated criminal sodomy, which are level-one felonies, and one count of aggravated sexual battery, a level-five felony. If convicted, Bordelon could face a minimum of 12 years in prison for each sodomy charge and a minimum of 2.5 years in prison for the sexual battery charge, according to state sentencing guidelines.

The affidavit indicates that Bordelon has several aliases, including Cameron Bordelon, Cameron Gomez and Alcaria Bordelon.

Bordelon was arrested on the charges in September. He was released from custody after posting a $100,000 own-recognizance bond. A preliminary hearing for the case, where Judge Sally Pokorny will hear evidence and decide whether the case can proceed to trial, is scheduled for Dec. 14.

The affidavit supporting Bordelon’s arrest was recently released to the Journal-World with some information redacted. Allegations in affidavits have not been proved in court, and defendants in criminal cases should be presumed not guilty unless and until they are convicted.

According to the affidavit:

During the time of the incidents, the woman told police she and Bordelon were both struggling with mental health issues. The woman said she was abusing cough syrup and had been self-harming. She also described herself as asexual.

She said the first incident occurred when she received a message from Bordelon that he was really depressed. She visited his apartment when she got off work. When she attempted to leave, Bordelon allegedly grabbed her and attempted to sexually assault her in his room. The woman told police she initially thought it was a joke, but he overpowered her and restrained her by holding her wrists together.

While Bordelon assaulted the woman, she attempted to stop him but couldn’t because he was stronger. She said she put her legs in a “pretzel” formation, preventing him from taking her pants off. She eventually talked Bordelon out of continuing the assault.

Once he stopped, the woman punched him in the face, and he left the room. She then went home, but had difficulty processing what had happened. She said she decided to “pretend it never happened.”

The woman and Bordelon continued to meet for a project they were working on and she would visit his apartment to watch television afterward. During another visit, a second assault occurred and Bordelon told her he had planned to assault her again with forced sex, she told police. The woman said she “did not want any of these things to happen” to her.

She said Bordelon then sexually assaulted her with his fingers and mouth and she “just went limp.” She told police she played with her bracelet during the alleged assault and at one point felt disgusted when she saw Bordelon’s face.

During a third incident, the woman was at Bordelon’s apartment to again work on the comic book project. While she was there, Bordelon allegedly sexually touched himself, then came over to her and groped her. She said she then asked Bordelon to think about consent and what that means to him. She said she wanted him to figure it out on his own and apologize to her, but that never occurred.

She also said she suggested using the word “red” as a safe word when they were together, but Bordelon rebuffed that because “everything was ‘red’ to her.” It’s unclear from the affidavit if the woman and Bordelon had a consensual sexual relationship separate from the alleged sexual assaults.

The woman said additional incidents included similar sexual and physical assaults, including several times Bordelon allegedly strangled her.

In December of 2014, the woman attempted suicide by swallowing a large quantity of pain-relief pills with alcohol in Bordelon’s presence. She said she blacked out and vomited, but Bordelon did not do anything to help her.

The affidavit also suggests a second person had alleged being assaulted by Bordelon. Bordelon spoke to police about the incidents in July. He told police he did nothing to one of the alleged victims but that he had regrets for what happened with the woman. He told the officer he was open about what had happened with the woman and he wanted her to be aware of that and that he was struggling with it.

Bordelon said he had gone to a lot of therapy and has worked through it, but he said it was hard to objectively look at his own actions. He also told police he is now engaged and he had moved on with his life.

Bordelon said he believed he did not do anything illegal, and he had said he had even taken responsibility for things he hadn’t actually done because of his religious upbringing.

But Bordelon said he had stopped touching the woman “because she was not OK with it.” He said the woman had previously told him that if he tried to have sex with her, she would call the cops, and he took that to mean “everything else was acceptable,” but he later realized some areas were off limits.

The officer said that when he asked about the incident where the woman began to cry, Bordelon said he did not remember it. Additionally, when an officer asked if the woman had ever asked for any of the actions in the alleged incidents, Bordelon said no and suggested their communication on such things was implicit.

The officer also asked Bordelon if the woman ever acted like she enjoyed what was being done to her, and Bordelon said no because she was asexual. But he said her joy came from the “satisfaction of self-abuse.” Bordelon also said he believed the woman was dealing with a lot of emotional trauma at the time and she was “numb” to the world.

Bordelon told the officer that he regretted what had happened with the woman and he wished he would have been more emotionally stable at the time. He said he also wished the woman would forgive him.