Grant Robicheaux, the doctor who appeared on the Bravo reality series Online Dating Rituals of the American Male, is set to have the sexual assault charges first brought against him in 2018 dropped.
The Orange County District Attorney’s office announced Tuesday that all criminal charges against Robicheaux, 39, and his girlfriend Cerissa Riley, who were both accused of drugging and sexually assaulting seven women, will be dismissed.
Robicheaux and Riley, 33, were first charged in September 2018 by former District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. The following month, the couple were both hit with additional charges, and both faced a maximum of life in prison if convicted on all charges against them.
Between September and October 2018, Rackauckas held two press conferences telling media that “investigators had recovered videos depicting up to 1,000 incapacitated women being sexually assaulted by Robicheaux and Riley,” and urging more women to come forward.
However, current Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer ordered a complete reevaluation of the case after Rackauckas admitted during a sworn deposition in June 2019 “that he had used the case to garner media attention to help his re-election campaign.”
The “exhaustive review revealed there was not a single video or photograph depicting an incapacitated woman being sexually assaulted by Robicheaux or Riley,” the DA’s office media release on Tuesday said. “In fact, the review revealed that there was not a single independent witness who came forward to say they saw the defendants sexually assault an unconscious woman.”
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Over a three-month period, two prosecutors looked over thousands of photos, videos, chats, pages of documents, text messages, social media and dating platform conversations, and pages of transcripts from interviews with alleged victims and witnesses, as well as hundreds of emails and hours of audio recordings, the DA’s office said.
The team of prosecutors found that “there is no provable evidence that Robicheaux and Riley committed any sexual offense.”
Both Robicheaux and Riley had previously pled not guilty to the charges against them, and vehemently denied allegations of non-consensual sex.
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“We unequivocally deny all allegations of non-consensual sex and absolutely deny any allegations that we have ever secretly drugged anyone for the purpose of having sex with them,” the couple said in a statement in October 2018.
“We have been aware of this investigation since the search warrant in January, and as a result of the search we were well aware that the police had taken computers, phones, and digital storage items for review,” their statement continued, PEOPLE previously reported. “We didn’t flee, we didn’t move and we didn’t go into hiding.”
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The pair added that before they were arrested in September of that year, “we had great friends, great lives and great careers that allowed us to make positive contributions to our community. We look forward to getting our lives back.”
“We have and will continue to stay here to clear our names we worked hard to establish,” they added.
Robicheaux, Riley and former DA Rackauckas’ lawyers did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Tuesday.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text “STRENGTH” to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.
from PEOPLE.com https://ift.tt/2OqKflI
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