Oak Harbor woman claims assault by murder suspect

An Oak Harbor High School graduate was recently shocked and devastated to learn that a former classmate she accused of sexual assault is a suspect in the death of a sailor at Naval Station Norfolk.

Jeremiah Copeland is now in pre-trial confinement in relation to the death of Angelina Resendiz, according to Times Now News. Resendiz disappeared in May from the East Coast Navy base and was found dead in June, 13News Now reports.

Lauryn Lopez claims that Copeland sexually assaulted her in 2022, when he was 17 and she was 15 years old. She believes that the tragedy may have been avoided if her allegation had led to criminal charges being filed.

“Oak Harbor PD didn’t take me seriously,” Lauryn Lopez said. “They didn’t take my case as good enough to go forward with it. Therefore, they enabled him, and he continued to do it to other people. And I just think that the authorities have a lot of the responsibility in this.”

Lopez claimed that Copeland kissed and groped her while she resisted. Copeland denied any wrongdoing.

Records show that her allegations were investigated, but that the case wasn’t referred to the Island County Prosecutor’s Office. In an interview last week, Oak Harbor Police Chief Tony Slowik said investigators determined there wasn’t probable cause to make an arrest.

The same year, the Island County Sheriff’s Office also investigated a different student’s allegations against Copeland and referred the misdemeanor case of “disclosing intimate images” to the prosecutor’s office. A girl consented to having sex with Copeland but didn’t know he was recording it, according to the prosecutor’s office. Copeland entered into a diversion agreement, which is mandatory for a juvenile’s first offense unless it’s a felony.

Copeland then left Oak Harbor High School and transferred to Coupeville High School.

The diversion agreement was terminated after Copeland completed his community service and paid his fee, but failed to complete ten hours of mental health counseling before the deadline. Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks said Copeland had turned 18 years old by then and the juvenile court lost jurisdiction over him. Prosecutors could have charged him as an adult in district court as a result of the termination but decided against it.

“Because he was leaving the jurisdiction to join the Navy, and he had already performed his mandatory community service, we elected not to charge him,” Banks said. “Military service seemed like a good option for him and would have him ‘supervised’ in a way by responsible adults. He had no other criminal history that we were aware of.”

Lauryn Lopez and her mother, Monica Lopez, are concerned that a different decision may have been made if prosecutors were aware of the other allegation.

“They basically told me that the detective was choosing not to send the case to the prosecutor because there wasn’t enough evidence, Lauryn’s words against Jeremiah, and the prosecutor wouldn’t do anything about it,” Monica Lopez said.

On June 27, 2022, Officer Shantel Ricci met Lauryn and Monica Lopez at their residence for an investigation into the allegations. Later, on June 29, Officer Angelica Scelzi was assigned to the case. The News-Times obtained copies of police reports, the forensic interview and associated interviews related to the June 23, 2022 event.

Lauryn Lopez was at a close family friend’s house when Copeland was invited over by their mutual friend. Sometime after dinner, Lauryn Lopez found herself in the living room with Copeland. He began trying to kiss her and grope her, according to a police report. She kept moving his hand away, and she told him “no” and “stop,” the reports state. She claimed that he knew she didn’t want him to touch her, according to the reports.

“Lauryn appeared upset and irritated with Jeremiah’s behavior and what he had been doing. She also used words such as ‘ewww’ and ‘disgusted.’ Lauryn made it clear she did not like Jeremiah, and she did not want to be around him, let alone be alone with him,” Ricci wrote in the report.

According to the report, after the incident, Lauryn Lopez told her mother about what happened, and the next day she got a call from her father, who was crying and apologizing for not being able to protect her. Her father repeatedly told her that the way she was treated was not OK and that people like Copeland needed to know it.

On Aug. 1, Scelzi interviewed another student who was in the house with Lauryn Lopez and Copeland on June 23. He recounted that Lauryn Lopez seemed to be in visible discomfort, though he had not witnessed an assault, the report details.

Then, according to the report, on Oct. 31, Scelzi interviewed Copeland, who claimed that he simply tried to kiss her and she moved away, so he left. When asked why Lauryn Lopez would allege non-consensual touching, he claimed it was a “set up” involving another girl.

“At this time I am closing this case due to lack of physical evidence or independent witnesses,” Scelzi wrote on Nov. 2.

Monica Lopez was not satisfied with this decision.

“I wish detectives would’ve come in and gotten a statement and really looked into it and you know brought it to the prosecuting attorneys, along with all the other cases,” she said. “If he would’ve had these cases on his record, he wouldn’t have been able to get into the military, and now someone’s dead.”

Lauryn Lopez and her mother hoped to bring her story to light to showcase the damage that was caused by the “system.”

“It’s really not about my daughter being a victim,” Monica Lopez said. “The police department failed, just failed all these victims that are coming out, especially Angelina, and it’s just terrible to see her mom receiving her casket the other day and it’s just like could this have been avoided if all these people didn’t go so out of their way to protect Jeremiah, from the high school to Oak Harbor PD.”

Since the sexual assault incident, Lauryn Lopez has worked in therapy to overcome her post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I was a survivor,” Lauryn Lopez said. “I think I could’ve had worse happen to me, and I could’ve ended up how Angelina unfortunately ended up.”

Lauryn Lopez emphasized how speaking up about sexual assault may prevent harm against more victims in the future, and she stressed that these stories need to be believed.