No Charges Filed in Alleged Rape on ‘Real World’ Set

Prosecutors lack sufficient evidence to charge a man accused of drugging and raping a 22-year-old woman on the set of MTV’s “The Real World” last fall, the San Diego County district attorney said Tuesday.

After reviewing “hours and hours” of videotape recorded for the unscripted television series, as well as other evidence, prosecutors dropped the case earlier this week after eight months of investigation.

“At this point we’re not filing,” said Paul Levikow, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office. “That could change if new evidence comes to light.”

The program, which chronicles the lives and antics of a group of young people living together in a house filled with video cameras, was taping in San Diego last year when the alleged victim and the man she would accuse were invited to the house by a cast member.

The man and the woman, who have not been identified publicly, were not part of the television series.

The woman told police she believed the man used drugs to knock her out at a nearby night spot on Nov. 14, and that he brought her back to the house and raped her in a bathroom that did not contain a video camera.

She contacted authorities, and five days later police searched the home, seizing numerous videotapes, DVDs, magazines, trash from wastebaskets and other items.

According to the search warrant, one cast member said she saw the woman stagger from the bathroom and said she appeared disoriented and had trouble speaking. Another cast member told police he had seen the woman naked, while another said he heard the accused man boast, “I just hit that.”

Investigators also seized tapes from the show’s producer, Bunim-Murray Productions of Van Nuys. The firm released a statement saying it was cooperating with the investigation and that none of the cast members were involved in the alleged incident.