By subscribing, I agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. But former district attorney Rackauckas denied Spitzers claim that he used the case for political gain. The couple has been charged with more than half a dozen crimes, including rape by the use of drugs, assault with intent to commit a sexual offense and possession of a controlled substance for sale. A representative for the attorney generals office could not immediately be reached for further comment. [4][5] Robicheaux was also accused of possessing two illegal, unregistered assault rifles, four other firearms, and several large-capacity magazines. Spitzers review of the case came under scrutiny during a personnel investigation into an investigator at the district attorneys office, Jennifer Kearns. [1] The woman stated that they drank alcohol together at a Newport Beach bar until the alleged victim was unconscious. Mr Spitzer, who was campaigning against Mr Rackauckas at the time, accused the district attorney of delaying the couple's arrest to drum up media coverage, which he alleged would help his opponent's campaign. Prosecutors claim Robicheaux and Riley administered drugs in order to engage in sexual intercourse with an incapacitated victim. They also allegedly gave the woman cocaine and PCP. An attorney representing the couple declined to comment Friday. [1] The case gained international attention because Rackauckas implied that there were up to one thousand victims. Prosecutors asked to dismiss 10 sex crime charges involving six of Robicheauxs seven accusers. I feel like I can breathe again.. At the same time, prosecutors asked to dismiss three firearms enhancements against Robicheaux and Riley and to reduce four felony charges of drug possession for sale to misdemeanors. Riley gave the woman a drink and the trio went to a bedroom, where the woman blacked out and later woke up next to Robicheaux, Fish wrote. His ethnicity is White. UPDATE: A California physician who has been accused of drugging and assaulting two women is a graduate of Lafayette High School. Those shortcomings led prosecutors for Spitzer to make arguments in court for why the charges against the couple should be tossed out that contained numerous unsupported allegations, misstatements, untruths, and factually wrong conclusions, McCall wrote in the memo. CNN First they were accused of drugging and raping women while recording their exploits on a cell phone. Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the district attorneys office, said the criticisms investigators voiced in the memo were not a denunciation of the entire review of the Robicheaux case. Dr. Grant Robicheaux and his girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, had their lives destroyed by the allegations, their lawyer said. City News Service contributed to this report. appreciated. Things got weird fast, Opinion: California wants more psychiatric detentions. Signup for Breaking News Alerts & Newsletters. Charges relating to two of the women were dropped in July at request of the alleged victims, according to BuzzFeed News. [1], In 2018, Robicheaux and his girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, were charged with drugging and raping multiple women in Newport Beach, California. LAGUNA BEACH, CA - OCTOBER 17: Dr. Grant Robicheaux, and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley listen during their arraignment at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach, CA on Wednesday, October 17, 2018. How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! All allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Grant Robicheaux and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley, the attorneys said. She joined the newspaper in 2013 as a reporter for the Daily Pilot, a Times Community News publication. Well send you the latest headlines every morning and every weekday afternoon. In that incident, Robicheaux allegedly began chatting with the woman on a dating app. Dr. Grant Robicheaux and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley will return to court to see how charges will be amended in their drug and rape case. However, there are a total of 13 accusers, some of whom could be used by prosecutors as further evidence of a pattern of behavior. There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. City News Service contributed to this report. Grant Robicheaux, 40, and girlfriend Cerissa Riley, 34, were accused of drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women. There is no such thing as advanced consent., Fish added, In any event, the consent arguments made by the defense do not detract from the finding made by the magistrate. The woman, described as in her 20s, woke up in the couples home during the sexual assault. H-O-O-K, Woodruff explained, it meant to hook peopleto hook people on these little skits.. Please reload the page and try again. If they were convicted of the charges, Dr. Robicheaux faces up to 40 years in prison. [5][3] Later in 2020, the Attorney General of California took over prosecuting the case. On January 9, 2018, police searched Robicheaux's home and found firearms and large quantities of illegal drugs, including the date rape drug gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid, MDMA, and cocaine. During a pretrial hearing Thursday, Deputy Atty. Instead, Jones removed the district attorneys office from the case and ordered it be turned over to the California attorney generals office. In January, police obtained a search warrant for the couples residence and found large quantities of illegal narcotics, including date-rape drugs, ecstasy, and cocaine, along with unregistered firearms, high quantity magazines, and some assault weapons, prosecutors said. The motion indicated that an independent review indicated that some allegations could not be proved beyond a reasonable doubt. In the early 2010s, Riley, who had a creative streak, joined Hook, a missionary performance group that put on short, religious skits. They have both pleaded not guilty and have denied that anything that happened was not consensual. "This case is a complete travesty," the woman told Ospino. The case was reassigned to the California Attorney General's Office last year after O.C. The agency launched a probe into Kearns actions and, as part of that inquiry, investigators concluded the review Spitzer ordered had been lacking. A judge in Orange County, California, has approved a request to drop almost all counts against a surgeon and his girlfriend who have been accused of drugging and raping multiple women. The following month, Spitzer's office was removed from the case and replaced by the California AG. Ultimately, they determined there was insufficient evidence. According to the state attorney general's office, at least three victims said they no longer wanted to partake in the case because they were "dragged through the mud" but the Orange County district attorney's office. Newport Beach surgeon Grant Robicheaux and his model girlfriend appeared in court for a preliminary hearing on Thursday after a judge recused himself from case as victims spoke about how they. Grant Robicheaux, left, and Cerissa Riley, the Newport Beach doctor and his girlfriend accused of drugging and raping multiple women, arrive at Orange County Superior Court Harbor Justice Center . View more / View fewer Facts of Grant Robicheaux. The then-district attorney admitted that media attention would help his re-election but denied making any decisions based on his political aspirations. And that gives hope to some of the couples accusers. Usually Hooks performances were local, but in the early 2010s Riley and her ex-husband made several missionary trips abroad to Budapest, Hungary. It was never a question, Robicheaux said. Bei der Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps verwenden wir, unsere Websites und Apps fr Sie bereitzustellen, Nutzer zu authentifizieren, Sicherheitsmanahmen anzuwenden und Spam und Missbrauch zu verhindern, und, Ihre Nutzung unserer Websites und Apps zu messen, personalisierte Werbung und Inhalte auf der Grundlage von Interessenprofilen anzuzeigen, die Effektivitt von personalisierten Anzeigen und Inhalten zu messen, sowie, unsere Produkte und Dienstleistungen zu entwickeln und zu verbessern. [1] In 2013, Robicheaux was named "Orange County's Most Eligible Bachelor" by Orange Coast Magazine. She used charm and good looks to disarm women, get them intoxicated, and then rape them at Robicheaux's apartment. Spitzer, a longtime O.C. [Riley] was literally sleeping in the street. [1] The woman stated that she consumed large amounts of alcohol before they invited her to Robicheaux's residence for an afterparty, where they drugged, raped, and orally copulated her. [1], On October 2, 2016, a woman screamed for help and one of Robicheaux's neighbor called the Newport Beach Police Department. However, in February of 2020, new O.C. Whoops! Dr. Grant Robicheaux and girlfriend Cerissa Riley, pictured in October 2018, were charged with drugging and raping multiple women. The criminal charges against the pair stem from two alleged incidents in 2016. [1] Following the charges, the California Medical Board opened an investigation into Robicheaux's conduct. It took us a year of planning.. No matter what.. ( Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. She said a day before she had consensual sex with both defendants and that she went to a concert the next day with the doctor, and they both did cocaine, Fish wrote. A prosecutor told an Orange County Superior Court judge. In a daylong hearing last Thursday, Judge Frank Ospino heard arguments from attorneys for the alleged victims and defendants, as well as the prosecutors. Grant Robicheaux, a surgeon once locally dubbed "bachelor of the year" and whose dating escapades were featured on a Bravo reality show, was originally accused by seven women of crimes including rape and sexual assault. Fry most recently covered breaking news for The Times and was part of the team that was a 2020 Pulitzer finalist for its coverage of a boat fire that killed 34 people off the coast of Santa Barbara. Robicheaux was charged with sexually assaulting seven women, with Riley charged with five assaults. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing this? Updated Paul Bersebach/Orange County Register Via AP, Days Of Our Lives Star Victoria Grace Withdraws From Daytime Emmys Nominations After Huge Misunderstanding Regarding The Rules, Mike Shannon Dies: Emmy-Winning Broadcaster For St. Louis Cardinals Was 83, Legal Battle Over Guitarist Johnny Winters Music Heats Up, Stanley Tucci Talks About His Oral Cancer Battle: I Had A Feeding Tube For Six Months, Online Dating Rituals of the American Male, The Issues, The Stakes, Movies & TV Shows Affected, How Long It Might Last, Netflix Lands Adam McKays New Comedy Average Height, Average Build, Plumbs Another Domestic Win At $38M; Karting Past $1 Billion Global, Serious Moments For Media Give Way To Satire & Mirth; Biden & Wood Remarks. However, there are a . [1] Rackauckas also stated that there were additional videos, saying, "There are a substantial number of videos. [5] In June 2020, Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones refused to drop the charges against Robicheaux and Riley and said both Rackauckas and Spitzer had used the case against each other while campaigning. An Orange County Superior Court judge on Wednesday granted a. At the time, then-Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said that Robicheaux and Riley would meet their victims at local bars and restaurants, drug them and then take them home and sexually assault them. Adam E. Chaikin, an attorney for the Assn. MyNewsLA.com wont sell your information and you can unsubscribe at any time. The net worth and salary of Grand is still hidden and will be published soon. Hannah Fry is a Metro reporter covering Orange County for the Los Angeles Times. The attorney general, not this office, determines who state prosecutors talk to and when.. Rackauckas claimed investigators had about 1,000 of these videos on the suspects' phones. [4], In July 2021, a judge in the Orange County Superior Court dismissed charges related to two of the seven women who stated they no longer wanted to participate in the case and had been "dragged through the mud" by the Orange County District Attorney's office. Fish noted that according to the police reports, illicit drugs were alleged to be at the residence in April of 2016 and again in July of 2017 and that Robicheaux himself said the home was used as a place to `party and sleep it off., One woman told police she met Robicheaux and Riley while drinking at a bar in Newport Beach and that despite being an experienced drinker, she became intoxicated beyond the level she expected given what she drank, according to the ruling. He received media attention in 2018 after he was accused of drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women. Spitzer accused his predecessor of overreaching on the case to bolster his reelection campaign and moved to have the charges dropped. Certainly, any prosecutor should think long and hard before dismissing such a case where multiple women have independently come forward and subjected themselves to the hard process of (baring) their souls to the authorities.. Police who responded to the scene found she seemed heavily intoxicated, and when they tried to question her again moments later, she did not remember the initial interview, Fish wrote. In May, prosecutors made a request to dramatically scale back the criminal case, . Police say she helped her reality-TV star boyfriend drug and sexually assault women. There is also video evidence suggests that there could be hundreds of other women who may not realize they were victims. EARLIER: State prosecutors moved on Friday to dismiss several rape charges against Dr. Grant Robicheaux, who starred on an episode of the 2014 Bravo reality show Online Dating Rituals of the American Male. The case against the two began two years ago, withRobicheaux, 40, and Riley, 33, painted as sexual predators who preyed on vulnerable women. She said the investigators reached their conclusions about the case review while looking into alleged misconduct by a district attorneys office employee who was involved in the Robicheaux case and based their findings on a small part of the case review. The same day, the Orange County district attorneys office made a motion to dismiss the case in front of Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones. Four years later, the divorce has still not been finalized, but the split is amicable, and Riley remains very much a part of her family, Woodruff said. Former reality TV show doctor Grant Robicheaux and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley speak out about the charges that were dropped after an investigation by the n. AboutPressCopyrightContact. The high-profile case has been embroiled in controversy since it began two years ago when then-Orange County Dist. We are conducting a very thorough and independent review of the case, Martinez said. They have been aware of these accusations for a number of months, and each of them will formally deny the truth of these allegations at their first opportunity in court.. Breaking news for Los Angeles, Orange and Riverside counties. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Surgeon who appeared on reality TV dating show is accused of sexual assault and preying on drugged women, conduct a review of all the evidence collected in the case. She also said she saw Riley drink something from a contact case and thought it odd.. A judge approved a request on Thursday to drop most of the case against a man and his girlfriend who were accused of drugging and raping multiple women, paring it down to charges related to just two alleged victims.. Grant Robicheaux, a surgeon once locally dubbed "bachelor of the year" and whose dating escapades were featured on a Bravo reality show, was originally accused by seven women of . After the request was granted, only the charges stemming from two alleged victims are still intact. At one point the California Attorney General's Office took over the case from the Orange County District Attorney's Office after it determined that District Attorney Todd Spitzer and Tony Rackauckas, a political rival and his predecessor, used the case to further their own political ambitions. That woman said she met the defendants at a bar, and at some point she felt as if she blacked out at the bar and awoke later on the floor of the residence associated with the defendants and remembers a man hitting her in the face and someone else kicking her in the head, Fish wrote. She grew up in Orange County and got her start as an intern at the Orange County Register. But the allegations against Cerissa Riley, 31, lodged this week in Orange County bewildered two people who have known her for years. Officials also determined that Kearns should receive additional training on report writing. Over three months, prosecutors looked at thousands of photographs and videos that had been taken from the couple's computers, hundreds of hours of audio recordings, thousands of pages of documents.
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