Garbage collector convicted of rape by exploiting his resemblance to Keanu Reeves

 ROME - Ulbaldo Manuali was sentenced to 9 years and 10 months for rape by impersonating American actor Keanu Reeves on social media in order to lure women. Between Sept. 2022 and Jan. 2023 the 60 year old garbage collector raped two women in the Viterbo area and one woman in the Frosinote area.

 The ruling was pronounced by the Court of Viterbo by Judge Daniela Rispoli. According to the prosecution the man lured the victims through six social media accounts by using his alleged resemblance to Keanu Reeves. The garbage collector, who tried to become an actor, would first administer psychoactive narcotics to the women and then rape them. He also filmed two of them without their knowledge and sent images of the abuse to some of his friends. Manuali rejected the accusations and claimed that the relationships were consensual. Outside the Viterbo prosecutor’s office he declared “I am in the hands of my lawyers and I know I did not do what I am accused of. This is not fair sentence the truth will come out.”

 The sentence was slightly less than the 10 and a half years the prosecutor requested. The defence lawyer asked for acquittal for the crime of sexual violence stating “there was only biological evidence in one case of intercourse.” Two other women recounted episodes that happened years earlier.

 The investigation by the Viterbo Flying Squad and the Flaminio Nuovo police station started when a complaint was filed in January from the latest victim who went to the emergency room. Her story matched up quickly with the other two victims. The date would start with an invitation to dinner and a glass of something to drink where the narcotic would be placed. The women would then have difficulty awakening the next day.

 The prosecutor was satisfied with the ruling and is content to have him off the streets.

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