An Upper Darby man was convicted Thursday on all charges for a sexual assault at his home in Secane.
The jury deliberated for less than three hours before convicting 21-year-old Evan Chiusolo on charges of rape and involuntary deviate sexual intercourse by force, as well as indecent assault without consent.
She said she went to Chiusolo’s house Aug. 6, 2025. The two had a sexual relationship and had had anal sex before, she said.
On this occasion, however, she said she told Chiusolo that she did not want to have anal sex. She did consent to being handcuffed, but said the defendant told her after putting the cuffs on that he could do whatever he wanted.
Chiusolo then proceeded to have anal sex with the victim against her wishes, despite her telling him “no,” that the sex was painful and to stop multiple times. He told her to be quiet, she said, and pinned her hands above her head.
She said that at one point, Chiusolo asked if he could choke her. The victim said she consented because she just wanted to get the encounter over with, but asked him not to choke her too hard.
Instead, she said Chiusolo applied extreme pressure to her neck, causing her to pass out briefly. She also choked Chiusolo while on top of him, she said.
“When it was over, he said he knows where to go when he wants to have a good time and he asked me if I liked it when he raped me,” the alleged victim said.
In subsequent texts between the defendant and alleged victim, Chiusolo vehemently denied using the word “rape” and said he might have asked if she liked not being in control.
“What do you want me to admit? That we got a little out of hand during sex?” Chiusolo wrote in one text read in court. “I thought it was what you wanted because you asked me (to do) stuff like that before and I was hesitant. I was just trying to satisfy you.”
“No, that you did anal even though I was begging you the entire time to stop and repeatedly said how much it hurt and then you asked me if I enjoyed being raped,” the alleged victim replied.
“Yeah, you asked me to stop, but you weren’t begging me, so I thought you wanted me to keep going, because girls with daddy issues, that’s what they want and you never said a word about how it hurt,” Chiusolo replied. “… I had zero intentions of what happened. I just misunderstood what you wanted.”
In closing arguments Thursday, defense counsel James Bonner asked the jury to view the encounter in the context of a wider relationship between the two parties.
He said the defendant in the texts appears to be simply throwing in the towel during an argument rather than admitting to any wrongdoing.
Bonner also said the victim’s story had changed and grown over time, adding elements like her being on top, the use of baby oil and increasing the severity of the choking. The account was not fixed, he said, and that injected reasonable doubt into the credibility of the witness.
Bonner also attacked the investigation by Delaware County Detective Sgt. Steve Bannar as incomplete, noting he had never interviewed Chiusolo’s mother, who was also home at the time. The mother said she never heard anything coming from her son’s room, though the victim said she had told the defendant loudly to stop.
Bonner additionally questioned why the victim had not extricated herself from the situation, noting the handcuffs used were little more than a toy that could be easily removed if the wearer wanted to.
The victim had noted she was able to get one hand out of the cuffs, but said Chiusolo put it back in when he noticed.
In her closing, Assistant District Attorney Meghan Rafter told the jury that this case came down to just one word: “No.”
The victim repeated the word during the rape, and Chiusolo acknowledged he heard her say it in texts, in a phone intercept with Bannar and the victim, and in a later interview with Bannar as well, Rafter said.
“Consent is ongoing, active and affirmative, and can be revoked at any time,” Rafter said. “Saying ‘no’ revokes any previous consent ever given. Proceeding with sex when someone tells you ‘no’ isn’t sex anymore. It’s rape.”
Rafter urged the jury to put aside any smoke and mirrors about what the mother did or did not hear and the handcuffs, which were never presented as a restraint in the case. The force used was holding the victim’s hands down, she said.
Rafter added that there is no onus on sexual assault victims to do anything at all, but also asked that the jury keep in mind the circumstances in which this rape occurred.
This was a woman who was alone, naked and handcuffed in a room with a man who had already shown her that he was going to ignore her wishes about what he did to her body, Rafter said. She knew that he was going to have to move his bedroom door, which was off the hinges with no doorknob, in order for her to leave. The victim had no idea what he might do if she tried to leave on her own, Rafter said, and was simply trying to survive.
The victim had also sobbed while talking about the rape, according to testimony from her friend, Rafter said, and had to relive the trauma of that night on the stand. Her emotions during that testimony were palpable and real, and lent credence to her story, Rafter argued.
While Chiusolo tried to downplay the assault as sex that “got out of hand,” Rafter said that the defendant’s own words showed he knew that the victim did not want to have anal sex that night and that he ignored those wishes.
“(The victim) told the defendant ‘no’ when he asked her for anal sex and he did it anyway,” she said. “The defendant agreed with Sgt. Bannar that she told him she didn’t want to have anal sex and did it anyway. He told (the victim) on the phone that he heard her say, ‘No.’ That’s an admission of guilt.”
Sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 18 pending a presentence investigation and psychological evaluation. Pileggi denied a motion to revoke bail and Chiusolo remains free on $20,000 cash.