Women tell similar stories of accused fitness instructor's actions - Tampa Bay Online

Debby L. says she didn't leave her house for four days after she was molested by her personal trainer, a man she hoped would help her, someone she'd given permission to touch her body and who had violated her trust.

She says she felt powerless after the assault, like her equilibrium had shifted. "I think he's all about power," she says. "It's not about sex. It's about power and humiliation of women."

Debby is one of a growing number of women who are lining up to say they were manipulated, scammed and sexually battered by the fitness instructor who authorities say managed to prey on clients for more than five years.

James Elbert Williams, 30, is being held without bail after officials say he tried to flee when detectives tried to arrest him in Arkansas.

So far, more than 30 have contacted the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, but investigators have not yet determined how many of them were victimized, said sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter.

Detective Charles Boswell told a judge at a recent court hearing that at least five women are considered sexual battery victims.

The criminal cases involve allegations Williams sexually assaulted the women with his fingers and one sexual battery in which the victim told authorities Williams dragged her into a rest room and raped her. Prosecutors have elected not to pursue one misdemeanor battery charge on which he was initially arrested, according to his attorney.

Boswell told the judge numerous women who don't know each other have reported nearly identical experiences. "There are multiple, multiple women who have come forward who have said Mr. Williams has exhibited this exact same behavior with them," Boswell said in court. "These women don't know one another, and yet they're describing this same behavior by Mr. Williams."

Boswell said a "flood of victims" stepped forward after Williams' arrest made the news. The investigation, he added, is "very active."

Williams' attorney, Michael Kenny, said there is no physical evidence supporting any of the charges. He suggested the women got together and made up stories about the defendant, or perhaps misunderstood what happened, because they were upset about something that happened on a social network.

"This is early," Kenny said. "I don't know exactly what is going to develop, but I know my client vehemently denies the allegations and I know there isn't a whole lot of evidence there."

The lawyer is putting the issue of corroboration front and center something that has worked for Williams before.

A 2005 sexual battery charge was not pursued by prosecutors because of the inability to corroborate allegations from the accuser, who had a relationship with Williams, according to Mark Cox, spokesman for the Hillsborough State Attorneys Office.

The Tampa Tribune talked to two women who are the subject of current charges brought against Williams, and three others who said he behaved inappropriately and then refused to refund their money. Three of the five women interviewed spoke on the condition that their full names not be used. This is in keeping with a Tribune policy against identifying alleged victims of sexual assault.

All five women are middle-aged, educated professionals and all five met Williams the same way.

It all started on Match.com.

The women, at different times, started talking to a man they met on the dating web site who said he was from out of state. To some, he said his name was Tony; to others he was Scott or maybe Robert. Sometimes he had dark hair; other times his profile picture showed a blonde. To some, he was from Arizona; others, he told he was from Little Rock, Ark.

He was either a criminal attorney or a lawyer who worked in the construction field; he had come to the area to help his sister whose life was in ruins. She had gone through a divorce and had gained weight. She lived in Pasco County or Avila or just in the general Tampa area.

Her life turned around when she found an amazing personal trainer a miracle worker. She lost a lot of weight, as much as 100 pounds in one telling of the tale. She had gone from a size 20 to a size 6, or maybe from a size 14 to a size 8 or perhaps from size 14 to size 4 all in the space of just three months.

And though none of the women ever met Tony or Scott or Robert in person, all of them took him up on his offer over the telephone to introduce them to the trainer. And all of the women paid Williams all or most of their contract fees upwards of $1,000 for three months of sessions up front.

Some of the women say investigators told them there was no other person that Tony or Robert or Scott and James Elbert Williams were the same person. Some believe this is true; others are convinced Williams was working with someone.

"If he is (both people), he is a master of disguising his voice," said Debby L., a 57-year-old skin care representative, who is the subject of charges brought against Williams by the Hillsborough State Attorney's Office. "I'm feeling that this was not James Williams on the phone. I really think he has an accomplice."

Back in March, after agreeing to let "Tony" introduce her to the trainer, she received a phone call from Williams, who went by the nickname "Jamie," Debby said. She went in on a Sunday to Williams' gym, Fitness One, on North Dale Mabry. Williams, she said, was "slick as glass."

She signed a contract for four months, with sessions three days a week. She paid him $2,700 up front. "In retrospect, I didn't perform the due diligence I would normally perform before handing over that kind of money," she said.

They had five or six good workouts, using an elliptical trainer, a treadmill and a rowing machine.

When Debby had trouble keeping up with the younger women, Williams would ease up on her, giving her the impression he was looking out for her. "I know I was totally being set up," she said. "He did things, I think, to gain my trust."

Then, on April 18, Debby said, she went to the gym, and Williams sent two other clients outside, leaving just the two of them inside. He berated her for not following a strict diet he'd given her. He ordered her to burn 500 calories right then and there.

After the workout, she was exhausted, and wanted to go home. But he told her he needed to work her muscles. She was on the floor, and that's when, she says, Williams violated her.

"He manipulated my body," she said. "He had me in a position of vulnerability."

Debby said she went into a daze. "It's almost like you're under water and can't hear anything," she said. "It's like this blanket of numbness."

L.B., a 47-year-old real estate agent, said she was uncertain exactly what was happening when Williams assaulted her.

"I begin to do the curls and he pulls me in by my waist really close and tight to him to where I can feel his penis poking me in the back" under his clothes, L.B. said. "I think this cannot possibly be what I think it is."

Later, she said, she tried to block Williams' hands when he was stretching her leg muscles and he pushed his finger into her private area over her clothes. "Hey, that's my private area!" she said she told him. "I don't know what you're doing!" He told her she had a dirty mind, she says.

Williams told her to do more exercise. She did a few squats and told him she was done.

"G." is a 46-year-old who works as an upper level manager at a large area corporation. She said after her first visit with Williams was "very inappropriate," she tried to just go to the gym with a friend and her daughter. Even then, Williams made her uncomfortable, she said.

She and her friends, she said, afforded themselves a level of protection by going together, but, "He was still a creep I feel like anytime someone touches you without your permission in a sexual manner, that's the definition of an assault. Regardless of the level, I think he was inappropriate."

Devonne Dingley just wishes someone would have listened to her almost two years ago. The 43-year-old marketing executive met Williams the same way as the other women through "Scott" at match.com, and she gave him $1,400 up front, half of the cost of three months of sessions.

Dingley said she had researched Williams beforehand, and found only positive reviews online. Now, she's convinced he put those reviews there. Going back, she realized they all had the same grammatical errors and misspellings. When she met with Williams, she said, he started hitting on her. Dingley said she told Williams she was looking for a personal trainer, not a date.

She said he called her and prevailed on her for a date. So within 24 hours of giving Williams a check, she decided against using him as a trainer. Believing that state law allowed her three days to change her mind, she decided to back out of the contract. But Williams had already cashed the check, and he wouldn't give her the money back.

When he called her after receiving her cancellation letter, Dingley said, she told him she was moving for her job. She said he told her the check was in the mail, but it never arrived. She called and wrote him repeatedly; she went to the authorities. But no one would help.

At one point, she said, Williams cussed her out, and wished her good luck getting her money back and told her to take him to court. She said she called match.com "to no avail."

"I expect I will never see a dime of my money, but I don't want to see another victim," Dingley said. "After I found out what happened, I was heartbroken. I was really sickenedBasically the laws are protecting a predator."

Sherrie Morin, 50, a cardiac assistant in a hospital transplant unit, describes herself as aggressive and tough. But she gave Williams the benefit of the doubt the first time he pressed against her.

She said she was doing shoulder exercises and Williams stood behind her. She thought he was too close, and that she felt his aroused state. "I stepped forward," she said. "I said, 'I didn't mean to push into you.' "

Then he did the same thing again.

She thought Williams was a freak. She said she decided to "deal with this my own way." She started searching online and found other women reporting meeting Williams through the Match.com setup. Some were complaining about not being able to get their money back.

She said she confronted him about what she called the "match.com scam." Williams, she said, denied it was a scam. Then one day, when she was training with a female trainer, Morin said, Williams pushed the other trainer aside and kissed her on the cheek. Morin said she cursed him and told him to get away.

Another day, he put his arm on her shoulder, took her to his office and looked in the mirror. Morin said Williams told her they would make a hot couple. She said she pushed him away and cursed him again.

After he moved to the new gym without air conditioning and under construction, she decided to stop going, Morin said. She said she stopped payment on the final check and sent Williams a registered letter ending the contract. The next day, Williams was arrested.

"I just thought he was a pig," Morin said. "I think a lot of women are probably afraid. They're probably in a situation where they haven't been there before, and they don't know what to do Just because you're professional and educated doesn't mean you're aggressive enough to take on someone three times your size."