SANTA CRUZ — Amid a flurry of objections from a team of defense attorneys, the prosecution called a series of witnesses who explained the allegations of a Watsonville former nurse, Tucson, Arizona woman and brain surgeon James Kohut raping children in Santa Cruz County in 2017.

Tuesday was the first time the details were made public: “They were in some sort of love triangle,” district attorney’s inspector Kelli Freitas told the courtroom, referring to statements by accused child rapist Rashel Brandon. Brandon, 44, of Watsonville was an intensive-care unit nurse at Dominican Hospital. She worked with neurosurgeon Kohut, 58, and the connection became sexual, according to testimony.

The three defendants, including 31-year-old Emily Stephens, were in jail garb and shackles at the defense table Tuesday morning before Superior Court Judge John Salazar, who approved a request for them to be absent for the duration of the day-and-a-half hearing that would be the first presentation of evidence relating to the charges.

Kohut, who lived in Soquel and Santa Cruz for 13 years, faces 48 felonies. He is represented by attorneys Jay Rorty and Edward Swanson.

Stephens, who is represented by Brian Worthington, is charged with 45 felonies. Attorney Anthony Robinson represents Brandon, who faces 44 felonies.

Evidence in the case includes video acquired by the FBI. Filmed in Watsonville from Jan. 1 and May 9, 2017, the video shows defendants raping 3-year-old and 10-year-old boys multiple times, according to court documents. There are four alleged victims: Brandon’s son, Stephens’ son and daughter and a female victim who was 13 when she said Kohut assaulted her in 2004, according to testimony. There also are allegations that Kohut abused one of those children at Brandon’s lake house in Tuolumne County.

In the Family

Testimony presented Tuesday revealed allegations of molestation involving Brandon’s and Stephens’ children.

“Mr. Kohut had been involved with Ms. Stephens for eight years,” Freitas said. All members of Stephens’ family — she had four children — had been living in the nude and having sex with adults, Freitas said.

For Brandon, by October 2016, the relationship with Kohut “turned sexual.” The doctor expressed the desire to have a taboo family — a family that spends time naked, including children, and has sex, Freitas said.

Brandon requested to speak to Freitas early in the investigation. Brandon said Kohut mentioned previous relationships of a taboo nature with an employee at Dominican Hospital, a woman and child in Louisiana and a woman in Riverside.

“He had told her he was molested as a young child by his nanny and her two daughters and he believed it to be a beautiful experience,” Freitas said. “Mr. Kohut wanted Ms. Stephens to move to Santa Cruz and move in with Ms. Brandon.”

It also is believed that Stephens was impregnated by Kohut, according to testimony.

Freitas described the scheme behind the suspected blackmail: Kohut told Brandon that Stephens was planning to blackmail him and “he wanted an insurance policy.” The means were to film Stephens having sex with children to use it against her, to prevent her from telling Kohut’s wife and family about his actions, Freitas said. Brandon said a video filmed at a Scotts Valley Best Western was being used to leverage Stephens into compliance with Kohut’s demands. That encounter did not involve Kohut, said Freitas.

In March 2017, Stephens brought two of her children to Brandon’s Watsonville home, where all three defendants were present. Kohut orally copulated a 5-year-old girl while “Stephens held her arms down,” Freitas said. Kohut also touched another boy’s genitals, she said. Kohut was said to have directed the sexual acts, Freitas said.

Kohut walked into the frame of the video and the children call him “James and Dr. Daddy,” Freitas said. Only when a 5-year-old was “acting out” did the encounter end, she said.

Stephens returned to Arizona and came back to Santa Cruz two weeks later. At that time, Kohut was allowed “alone time” with a 10-year-old child after Kohut confronted her about having videos of her having sex with children.

Freitas interviewed one of the children in Arizona and the child said Kohut and Stephens’ children would “pile their bodies on top of each other.”

Descriptions of some of the videos depicted a 3-year-old child screaming “no” while other children were being directed to compel oral copulation, Freitas said.

‘Possibly Pregnant’

Watsonville detective Juan Sanchez, who has been the primary investigator in the case, said the motel video involved two adults “abusing three children.”

He said Brandon identified Emily Stephens, her son, and Stephens’ son and daughter during that encounter.

“Stephens was possibly pregnant with Dr. Kohut’s child,” Sanchez said. “Brandon told me that Stephens and Kohut said they had been sexual with children before. … (Kohut) was concerned Stephens would tell his wife.”

Robinson, in Brandon’s defense, asked whether Brandon had been cooperative with the investigation. Brandon helped unlock one of the phones in evidence, Sanchez said.

FBI supervising agent Chris Marceau testified that he and a team of about a dozen officers and agents were called early in the case and they gathered a “large amount of digital media” for forensic extraction. Texts also were gathered between Brandon and Kohut with information indicating their intentions to blackmail Stephens, ” Marceau said.”]

Marceau went on to describe the acts in the videos: Brandon groping a boy, orally copulating a boy and having sex with him while the child was on his back; Stephens having oral sex and intercourse with a boy on his back; and Brandon having oral sex with a girl, among other depictions.

‘Their Maker’

After the hearing, Brandon’s brother, Isaac Lynn, said he does not judge his sister, or the co-defendants, based on the allegations.

“It’s between those three and their maker,” Lynn told the Sentinel.

He also said his nephews are doing well.

“They ask about their mom all the time,” Lynn said. “They love their mother.”

The preliminary hearing is slated to continue in judge’s chambers 1:30 p.m. Thursday, when Salazar will review the submitted videos. A request to reduce Kohut’s bail to $1.5 million will be addressed at another time. The defendants remained at Santa Cruz County Jail.