Prosecutors set to push forward case of rape of Orange County doctor

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State prosecutors told an Orange County Superior Court judge on Friday that they plan to move forward with a case against a Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend, centering her on allegations of sexual assault filed by two women.

Prosecutors in the attorney general’s office announced in May that they wanted to focus the case on a single woman. At the time, they said they did not have enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the allegations about the other women who accused the couple of drugging and raping them.

However, prosecutors told Judge Frank Ospino on Friday that they now intend to move forward with two of the original seven women Grant Robicheaux, 40, was accused of sexually assaulting. Robicheaux’s girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, 34, was initially charged with five assaults. The couple pleaded not guilty and denied any non-consensual sex.

A representative from the attorney general’s office could not be reached immediately for further comment. A lawyer representing the couple declined to comment on Friday.

Ospino has indicated that he intends to rule next week on prosecutors’ request to reduce the charges. Ospino also told lawyers he wanted to hold a preliminary hearing by the end of the year to determine whether the case, which has suffered repeated delays, can go to trial.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Steven Bromberg last month dismissed charges related to allegations made by two of the seven women after telling prosecutors they were “dragged through the mud” by the Orange County Attorney’s Office and no longer wanted to participate in the Case.

Weeks later, Bromberg withdrew from the case following allegations he mistreated defense attorneys and prosecutors during a heated hearing.

The high-profile case has been embroiled in controversy since it began two years ago when Orange County Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas filed a lawsuit against Robicheaux and Riley, describing them as sexual predators who used their beauty to prey on vulnerable women, drug them and bring them back to their Newport Beach home to sexually assault them.

In 2019, shortly after Todd Spitzer became the county’s chief prosecutor, he commissioned two deputy prosecutors to conduct a review of all the evidence gathered in the case. The unusual move came after a prosecutor reported “serious evidentiary issues” in the case, Spitzer said at the time.

For three months, prosecutors examined thousands of photographs and videos taken on the couple’s computers, hundreds of hours of audio recordings, thousands of pages of documents and tens of thousands of text messages between Robicheaux and Riley during four years.

Ultimately, they determined that there was insufficient evidence. Spitzer, who had accused his predecessor of going too far in the case to support his re-election campaign, sought to dismiss all charges against the couple.

The request, however, was dismissed last year by Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregory Jones. Instead, Jones removed the district attorney’s office from the case and ordered that it be turned over to the California attorney general’s office.

The prosecutor’s office’s review of the case came under scrutiny in a personal investigation of District Attorney’s investigator, Jennifer Kearns. In court documents, prosecutors alleged that Kearns omitted relevant information from reports she wrote about the case and claimed that she waged a “whisper campaign” to exaggerate the evidence by favor prosecution.

The agency launched an investigation into Kearns’ actions and, as part of that investigation, investigators concluded that the review ordered by Spitzer was lacking.

Paul Anderson of City News Service contributed to this report.

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