Man Sentenced To 200 Years For Drugging & Raping Young Men

TAMPA, FLORIDA - A man who was questioned about the disappearances of three Fort Lauderdale men and convicted in federal court in Tampa of drugging, raping and torturing nine other young men there was sentenced to the maximum 200 years in prison on Friday.
Two of the victims of Steven Lorenzo ended up dead, and he is likely to face murder charges in state court later.
"I hope that he never sees the light of day again,'' said U.S. District Judge Richard A. Lazzara after the sentencing.
Police in South Florida also investigated Lorenzo after three men disappeared from their condos in Fort Lauderdale. Lorenzo, 46, of Tampa, or a family member, owned a Hidden Harbor condo on the 1700 block of North Andrews Avenue since 1986. It is across the street from the Drake Tower Condominium, where three gay men have gone missing since 1988. Missing are Drake resident Mark Jackson, who disappeared June 27, 2004, and in June 1988, residents Barry A. Block and David George Rhodes vanished. Lorenzo has not been charged in those disappearances.
A jury in November found Lorenzo, 46, guilty of slipping the date rape drug, GHB, into the drinks of all nine victims and then sexually torturing them at his home.
Michael Wachholtz and Jason Galehouse, both 26, were killed. The other seven victims all testified about meeting Lorenzo at bars and either losing track of their drinks or having Lorenzo serve them drinks before they lost consciousness.
The men woke up naked and in pain, some remembering bondage or forced sex, and others having almost no memory of what happened.
Lorenzo's attorney argued that the sex acts were consensual.
Prosecutors said Lorenzo teamed up with Scott Schweickert, a Chicago man he met online, to fulfill their ultimate fantasy by killing Wachholtz and Galehouse.
Galehouse was killed and dismembered by Schweickert and Lorenzo on Dec. 19, 2003, after the three engaged in sex, an indictment said. Schweickert told federal agents he and Lorenzo cut up the body, put the pieces in garbage bags and scattered them in trash bins throughout the city.
The next night, Lorenzo and Schweickert allegedly drugged, raped and killed Wachholtz, wrapping him a bed sheet and leaving him in his Jeep, according to the indictment. The vehicle was discovered Jan. 6, 2004.
Investigators found on Lorenzo's computer hundreds of thousands of images, including photographs of Wachholtz's dead body taken at Lorenzo's house hours after he was last seen.
Galehouse's DNA was found in a large pool of blood in the dirt beneath the cobblestone floor of Lorenzo's garage. Schweickert will face a federal trial later.
from Sun-Sentinel