MIAMI – A man from New England faced a South Florida judge Tuesday on a first-degree sexual battery charge after authorities accused him of raping a woman in his cruise ship cabin off the coast of Mexico.

Deputies arrested Randy Gaul, 59, of Farmington, New Hampshire, on Saturday after the Norwegian Escape returned to PortMiami.

According to an arrest report from the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, Gaul and the woman were acquaintances and shared a room on the ship. It states that the woman told detectives that she had had their beds separated by cabin staff at the start of the journey.

The report states Gaul and the woman had “consumed multiple alcoholic beverages” Wednesday night and the woman blacked out.

She said at around 1 a.m. Thursday, she woke up due to Gaul snoring and felt pain as she went to the bathroom, deputies said. The report states that the woman saw blood in her genital area and shorts while in the bathroom and, the next morning, saw blood stains on her sheets.

Detectives said she confronted Gaul about what happened and he admitted to having sex with her the previous night.

The report states after the cruise returned to South Florida, detectives took Gaul to an MDSO office in Doral and tried to interview him. They said he invoked his right to remain silent.

A Miami-Dade judge found probable cause Tuesday to charge Gaul with sexual battery on a helpless victim, ordering he be held without bond.

Jail records show he was behind bars in the Metrowest Detention Center as of Tuesday.

Rep. Alicia Gregg, a Nashua Democrat, serves on the House Child and Family Law Committee, but outside of her work at the State House, she serves as a domestic abuse victims’ advocate and is a survivor herself. And she’s gravitated toward legislative issues surrounding protecting others from abuse.

“The one gaping hole that I continued to find on all the special committees I was on and the study committee was that we don’t have an updated definition of what child abuse and endangerment looks like in this state,” Gregg said.

She filed House Bill 553 to address that.

The bill, which is co-sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, would amend the legal definition of abuse and neglect, and create instructions for officials on dealing with such abuse.

For example, the bill adds, “Evidence of serious injury, broken bones, or unexplained injury to any non-ambulatory child, or frequent illnesses that are not being adequately addressed or controlled,” to the list of factors to be considered evidence of child abuse. The goal is to strengthen the existing language and make it more explicit.

Additionally, instructions to “determine if the preservation of family unity is in the best interest of the child” would become “presume that family unity is in the best interest of the child; but, if it is determined to not be in the child’s best interest, to secure placement in the least restrictive setting.” The bill also calls for “frequent” reviews of any child removed from the home with the goal of returning that child home as quickly as possible.

The bill also creates a legal definition for “trauma informed,” describing it as “a service system in which all parties involved recognize and respond to the impact of traumatic stress on those who have contact with the system …” Several other verbiage changes the bill calls for are aimed at making the language more “trauma informed.”

“I think too much of it (the language) was left to interpretation before with the courts,” she said. “And when you are dealing with families I think a lot of times there is a hesitancy to step in.”

Gregg said the goal of the changes isn’t necessarily to improve the prosecution of crimes against children, but rather to empower officials to intervene before that becomes necessary.

“That way DCYF (the Division for Children, Youth and Families) and the courts have extra tools in their belt to say, ‘This is when we need an intervention,’” she said. “And we can have the intervention before we have a crisis.”

Gregg added that the language changes were developed through a study committee this past summer that included Sen. Sharon Carson, a Londonderry Republican, and former Sen. Rebecca Whitley, a Hopkinton Democrat. That committee, she said, consulted New Hampshire child advocacy centers, Court Appointed Special Advocates – commonly known as CASA – and physicians who care for children, among others.

HB 553 isn’t the only proposed legislation tackling child abuse-related issues this session. 

House Bill 493, also sponsored by Gregg, seeks to require physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants who treat patients 18 or younger to complete child abuse and neglect education. That education, which would be at least two hours, must be accredited and recognized by the New Hampshire chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Meanwhile, a pair of Republican-backed bills seeks to push back against certain aspects of the state’s existing child abuse prosecution system.

House Bill 243, sponsored by Deerfield Republican Rep. James Spillane, targets people who file false reports of child abuse and neglect. The bill forbids people from making false reports “maliciously or with the intent to harm” and allows them to face criminal charges or civil suits for doing so. It also allows the name, address, or phone number of the person filing the report to be listed.

Spillane also sponsored a bill regarding false reports of abuse and neglect. House Bill 430 seeks to shorten the amount of time the Department of Health and Human Services holds onto records on “unfounded” reports of abuse or neglect. Presently, the department keeps records of unfounded abuse or neglect for 10 years from the date it was deemed unfounded, unless there is “reasonable concern” at which point it’s kept indefinitely. This legislation would change that 10-year period to three years. Once that time period elapses, the department destroys all electronic or paper records in the case.

Both Spillane’s bills are co-sponsored by fellow Republicans.

The House Child and Family Law Committee will take up HB 553 on Jan. 28 at 1:30 p.m., and HB 243 is scheduled for a hearing before the same committee on Jan. 21 at 3 p.m.

With the flick of a pen, President Donald J. Trump changed that by pardoning Niemela and about 1,500 other people arrested, convicted or awaiting trial for their actions during the insurrection.

“It’s been a long four years,” Niemela told the Globe in an interview Monday evening, adding that she wasn’t sure yet what her pardon entailed.

“I do believe it should be a pardon of innocence,” Niemela said, “and there should be investigations and compensation for my prison sentence and for defamation of character and slander.”

According to the White House, Trump granted “a full, complete and unconditional pardon to all other individuals convicted of offenses related to events that occurred at or near the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Niemela and her girlfriend were among hordes of people who entered the US Capitol, and multiple witnesses came forward and identified her from video on social media and TV.

Court records supporting her arrest also said that a witness told FBI agents that Niemela showed a video of herself breaking a window and that she claimed to be part of the Proud Boys.

Niemela told the Globe Monday that those claims were lies. “I’m not a Proud Boy. I’m a gay conservative woman,” she said. “And, I did not break a window.”

Niemela said that the publicity about being at the Capitol cost her. “I lost friends and family, and I haven’t been able to find a job,” said Niemela, who’d worked construction remodeling homes.

“January 6 was lies by the mainstream media,” she added.

Niemela complained that she didn’t get a fair trial and the judge was harsh on her, telling her she was “out of touch with reality.”

Niemela was sentenced in 2023 to 11 months in prison. She served eight months and was released on probation in April 2024.

Niemela said that her federal probation officer allowed her to travel to North Carolina to deliver necessities to hurricane victims.

Her request to attend Trump’s inauguration, however, was denied.

Aside from the pardon, Niemela wants the criminal charge expunged from her record, and “erased from the system.” Because even with the pardon, people can still search for her name on the internet, she said, and she wants to be able to get a job again.

Amanda Milkovits can be reached at amanda.milkovits@globe.com. Follow her @AmandaMilkovits.