A 26-year-old man has pleaded guilty to raping two women he knew during a party at a Duanesburg residence last year, closing out a case built on forensic evidence, witness accounts, and the man's own statements to investigators. Brian Scott Regels Jr. admitted to two counts of first-degree rape, both class B felonies, in Schenectady County Court on Tuesday.
The plea, entered on October 20, satisfied a three-count indictment that had been pending against Regels, according to WRGB. Regels admitted to raping the two women, both described as well known to him, during the overnight hours of May 23 into the early morning of May 24, 2025, in the town of Duanesburg.
The assaults took place during a party at a residence, and both women were incapable of consenting because they were unconscious due to voluntary intoxication, the station reported. Both victims came forward that same weekend to report the assaults to New York State Police at the Princetown Barracks and consented to sexual-assault forensic examinations at Ellis Hospital.
Witness Accounts and a Revealing Police Interview
Other guests at the party also came forward to tell state police what they had witnessed, according to the same report. Those accounts helped investigators piece together the events of that night even before forensic results came back.
On May 26, 2025, Regels was interviewed by members of New York State Police and made several incriminating statements that were inconsistent with what witnesses had described. He was arrested at the conclusion of that interview, the station's report states. The Daily Gazette separately reported that Brian S. Regels, then 25, was arrested May 26 and charged with two counts of first-degree rape, while a New York State Police statement listed his arrest in Princetown as occurring on May 26, 2025.
DNA Evidence Matched the Victims' Accounts
The New York State Police Forensic Investigation Center compared swabs from the sexual-assault forensic exams to Regels's DNA, and the results agreed with the victims' accounts, per the station's report. That scientific corroboration, paired with the witness statements gathered in the days after the party, formed the backbone of the case that led to Monday's plea.
Under New York law, a person is guilty of first-degree rape when they engage in vaginal sexual contact with another person by forcible compulsion, with a person incapable of consent because they are physically helpless, or under certain age-based circumstances, according to the New York State Senate's open legislation records.
Expected Sentence Includes Decades of Parole
Regels is expected to receive a sentence of 11.5 years in prison on each count, with those sentences running concurrently, the outlet reported. He will also serve 20 years of parole and be required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life after his release from prison, under the terms described in the same report.
