Rejection Revenge
With the evolution of the internet and personal electronic devices, our world has become infinitely connected in ways we could have never imagined. This includes the ability to meet complete strangers from down the street and around the globe in a mere instant, with just the swipe of a finger. Such was the case two years ago, when our client downloaded a popular dating app and connected with someone in a neighboring state.
Plans for the two to meet in person were made, and within days the couple met in person at a restaurant. After their meeting and a couple of days later, the man invited the woman over to his home to watch a movie. The woman agreed and a good time was had by all, or so our client thought. A few days later, the police arrived at the man’s office and placed him under arrest and charged him with rape. We were brought into the case by the client’s defense counsel shortly thereafter. We began our investigation by performed a background check on the alleged victim.
Our investigators learned that the woman was recently divorced; had a felony conviction for shoplifting; and was also under investigation for possible online charity fraud. Our investigators then obtained copies of surveillance videos from the restaurant where the couple had their first date and tracked down the Uber driver who gave the woman a ride home from the client’s home, after she spent the evening there. Numerous inconsistencies in the woman’s claims to police about being sexually assaulted by our client began to emerge, including images on the restaurant surveillance videos showing the woman being romantically aggressive with the client, instead of the other way around, as she had told the police.
The Uber driver also reported that he recalled the woman getting into his car that night, and then speaking gleefully about her evening, saying how she had just met a man online and was really falling for him. She went on to say that she had really enjoyed herself at the man’s house. When questioned, the driver further stated that the woman never mentioned being physical assaulted, nor did she request to be taken to a police station or a hospital. Recovered text messages painted a totally different picture, however, one where the woman seemingly became obsessed with our client after their second date, to a point when our client started to ignore her constant messaging. Then came the police.
The inconsistencies we uncovered in the woman’s statements to police, coupled with her criminal background and the text messages, helped shed new light on both her lack of credibility and a motive to lie, which ultimately led to our client being released from jail and the charges being dropped by the State’s Attorney’s Office.