The owner of a defunct “bikini barista” coffee stand faces additional sex abuse charges as more women have come forward with similar allegations, court records say.
Washington County prosecutors filed a third criminal indictment against Dream Girl Espresso operator Jeffery Hebner this month adding new charges of sodomy, unlawful penetration, sex abuse and delivery of cocaine.
Hebner, 62, is now accused of victimizing 21 women, Deputy District Attorney Erin Brady wrote in a courthouse memo.
“All of these young women reported separately — and most have never met each other — yet their reports blatantly and closely mirror that of one another,” Brady wrote. “These young women were not the first, and will likely not be the last, to come forward.”
The coffee stand owner first caught authorities’ attention in 2019 after a woman reported being sexually assaulted at Hebner’s home while there under the pretense of a job interview, according to Brady’s memo.
Most of the women, some applicants and others employees, reported similar assaults at Hebner’s home, saying he used drugs, alcohol, threats, violence and the promise of cash to facilitate the conduct, the memo says.
A Washington County circuit judge ordered Hebner to pay more than $800,000 last month to a woman who sued him for sexually abusing her when she was 19 and went to his house to apply for a job at the coffee stand. Hebner never responded to the suit and lost by default.
Hebner is being held without bail. His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.