“You Said You Were an Army Officer and a Doctor”... The ‘British Jeon Cheong-jo’ Case of a Woman Who Disguised Herself as a Man to Deceive Women into Sex

[Financial News] A British woman who deceived a woman she met on an online dating site by claiming to be a male military officer and surgeon has once again been found guilty of sexual assault. The woman is said to have shocked people because she previously dated another woman for nearly two years and even became engaged to her.
According to The Guardian and other British media, Blade Silvano, 44, was found guilty on the 10th at a criminal court in Caernarfon, north Wales, of six counts of sexual assault against a woman committed between November 2022 and June 2023.
According to prosecutors, Silvano posed as a man using the name “Hunter” on the online dating site Plenty of Fish. She introduced herself as an Army captain and a surgeon and continued a relationship with the victim.
During sex, she kept the lights very dim and prevented her partner from touching her body. Silvano reportedly deceived the victim in a calculated manner, including by lying that there was a problem with the contraceptive during sex and saying, “The chances of pregnancy are very low. You can trust me; I’m a doctor.”
Over time, however, the victim began noticing things that seemed odd, such as Silvano’s voice sounding somewhat feminine. Then another woman who had been in a relationship with Silvano for a long time contacted the victim, revealing “Hunter’s” identity.
The victim told police that when she learned the truth, “I thought it was a joke.” In court, she testified, “I thought I was dating a heterosexual man. I would never have dated a woman.”
What is startling is that this was not the first time Silvano had committed such crimes. In 2016, Silvano had deceived another woman she met on an online dating site, claiming to be a former male soldier named “Blade Mendez.”
Over the course of their relationship, which lasted about two years, she sent photos of herself in military uniform, pretended to shave, and even acted as if she were urinating while standing up. She also lied that injuries sustained during military service made her reluctant to have physical contact.
At the time, the victim firmly believed Silvano was a man, to the point of planning to marry her. She made actual wedding preparations, including looking at venues and trying on dresses. But in 2018, she discovered the truth after coming across a very different image of Silvano on Facebook.
For this case, Silvano was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault in May 2023 and sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison that December. She was also ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely. The court said at the time that Silvano had deceived the victim by managing her appearance to look like a man and repeatedly lying.
Silvano is already serving a sentence for the 2023 case, and the sentence for the six additional counts on which she was found guilty has not yet been determined. The court is expected to sentence her in December, after a pre-sentence report for a risk assessment has been prepared.
[email protected] Kim Hee-sun Reporter