Well-known personal trainer detained on suspicion of raping client in her home

A well-known personal trainer from Tel Aviv was arrested on Saturday on suspicion of having drugged and raped a client, in a case that is largely being kept under a gag order.

While details of the investigation, including the identity of the trainer, were not permitted for publication, Channel 12 news reported that the investigation was opened after the victim of the alleged rape, a woman in her 20s, filed a complaint with the Israel Police this past weekend. A lawyer for the suspect said after a court hearing on Sunday that he denied all the allegations.

Police are probing whether the trainer used a date-rape drug, the report said, as the victim’s friends found her in her home last weekend, after spending time socially with the trainer and another person, with only a hazy memory of what had taken place. She was then taken to the hospital for a medical examination, where it was determined that she had recently had sexual intercourse, of which she had no memory.

The person who was with them at the time of the alleged incident is also a suspect in the case, the Ynet news outlet reported.

In the days that followed, the woman attempted to confront the personal trainer about what had occurred, Hebrew media outlets report, but afterward decided to file a complaint at the Tel Aviv North police station.

The suspect, a man in his 30s, was arrested on Saturday, and his home was searched and his phone and computer seized. A request for his detention to be extended was granted in a closed-door hearing after his arrest, although only for four days, rather than the seven that had been requested.

In comments to the press, the trainer’s attorney Nir Plesser, said that he had “cooperated fully” with the police investigators and “completely denied” the allegations.

פרקליטו של מאמן הכושר מתל אביב החשוד באונס, עו"ד ניר פלסר: "החשוד מכחיש מכול וכול. לא היה ולא נברא" @YoavBorowitz @AnnaPines_ pic.twitter.com/GtmKWO0xOC

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Speaking to Channel 12, a relative said that the trainer maintained that he had done nothing wrong and that “everything was a lie.”

He said that he was insisting that the victim of the alleged rape had “asked to train with him,” and had “properly trained with him once in the studio” in the past.

“He tried to assist the girl, to help her,” the relative said he claimed. “He did not have any sexual relations with her.”

The personal trainer is reported to be a prominent figure on social media and has several celebrity clients. Without providing more details, Channel 12 reported that a former prime minister of Israel had previously been a client.

Future requests by the police to extend the trainer’s detention will be held by the Tel Aviv District Court in closed-door hearings.