A South Florida man tortured and sexually abused a young girl for years, drugging her with chloroform and using needles and knives on her, authorities said.
Louis Romano Bianculli, 68, was arrested Tuesday by Lighthouse Point Police on three counts of sexual battery. He appeared in bond court Thursday where he was ordered held without bond. It was unknown if he's hired an attorney.
According to an arrest warrant, the alleged abuse happened between 2005 and 2013, starting when the girl was just 12. It was later disclosed in therapy sessions and reported to police, the warrant said.
The girl said Bianculli would use chloroform to render her unconscious for up to 15 minutes to perform the sexual acts, and that he would frighten her and she "became 'brainwashed' into voluntary compliance with the abuse," the warrant said.
At one point, Bianculli "began to develop an 'obsession' with 'being skinny' and would tell her that if she wasn't pretty she would have no friends," the warrant said. He started using needles in her stomach and breasts, said he was using them to "suck out fat" and inject it into her breasts, the warrant said.
The procedures happened about once a week, and the girl would wake up from blackouts and find puncture marks on her stomach and bruised breasts," the warrant said.
Bianculli started replacing the chloroform with sleeping pills to knock her out longer but over time she developed a resistance to the sleeping pills and would need more and more, sometimes as many as 11 at a time, according to the warrant.
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He later manipulated her into taking diet pills, and she developed insomnia, became depressed and contemplated suicide.
When the girl was 17 or 18, Bianculli started using a ziplock bag as "an experiment" and placed it over her head to "see how many breaths she could take until she passed out," the warrant said. He also started using a kitchen knife to make cuts on her stomach and used dry ice on her legs to remove stretch marks, the report said.
The girl began to develop health issues, including fainting, allergies that didn't exist before, ENT issues and heart problems.
The alleged abuse didn't stop until 2013, when the girl met her now ex-boyfriend, the warrant said.
Police said Bianculli admitted to parts of the abuse in a recorded interview last month, and apologized and showed remorse.
Paul Andrews, who rents a house from Bianculli, said he couldn't believe the allegations.
"I'm totally shocked, I've known Louis for two years and to me he seems like a very nice gentleman and his son, I don't know him well but he's very personable," Andrews said.
