Newport Beach doctor and his girlfriend file claim against county for drugging and rape case that fizzled

A one-time Newport Beach hand surgeon and his girlfriend have filed a claim, which was publicly released Friday, against Orange County stemming from their prosecution in a case that alleged they drugged and sexually assaulted multiple women, but ultimately fizzled into a guilty plea by the doctor on gun and drug charges and no convictions for his partner.

Dr. Grant Robicheaux, 43, and Cerissa Riley, 36, filed a claim against the county on Dec. 19. A claim is a necessary precursor to a lawsuit against a governmental agency unless the claim is settled before litigation is filed.

The claim obtained through a public records act request from City News Service on Friday accused Orange County prosecutors of making “false and misleading statements” about the case filed against the two.

Robicheaux pleaded guilty Nov. 29 to a felony gun possession charge and a misdemeanor drug count and was placed on one year of probation for the misdemeanor, which can later be dismissed if he successfully completes probation.

Robicheaux was sentenced to two years probation for the felony, which can be reduced to a misdemeanor after 16 months of successful probation and ultimately can be expunged from his record.

The resolution followed a hearing in October in which Orange County Superior Court Judge Michael Leversen agreed to dismiss felony charges of poisoning and sale of phencyclidine against Robicheaux and Riley.

That left no charges remaining against Riley, but Robicheaux still at that time faced a felony charge of possession of an assault weapon and four misdemeanor counts of possession of a controlled substance, including GHB, more commonly known as the date-rape drug. As part of the plea deal, those remaining counts, including the GHB charge, were dismissed.

Leversen ordered Robicheaux to perform 32 hours of community service and take 16 hours of drug education classes.

The case began five years ago in the heat of a reelection bid by then-Dist. Atty. Tony Rackauckas, who held a widely covered news conference to announce the charges accusing Robicheaux and Riley of targeting women in bars and other settings, drugging them and sexually assaulting them.

The case quickly became a target of then-DA candidate Todd Spitzer, who criticized Rackauckas’ handling of the case and questioned why Rackauckas did not move faster to file it — suggesting the incumbent was using the matter for campaign publicity.

After he was elected, Spitzer called for an internal review of the case, assigned two new prosecutors to the matter and then moved to dismiss all of the charges. That drew protests from several of the alleged victims and an Orange County Superior Court judge refused to toss the case.

Spitzer’s office was eventually recused from the case and the Attorney General’s Office took over.

Robicheaux initially faced charges involving five alleged victims and Riley three alleged victims, but a prior Orange County Superior Court judge granted a motion from prosecutors to reduce the charges. There were initially a total of 13 accusers, some of whom prosecutors had planned to use as witnesses to show a pattern of behavior at trial.

Attorney Thomas Ferlauto said in the claim for the couple that “the salacious allegations against [the two] were widely publicized by the county through its agents. False and misleading statements were made by D.A. Rackauckas at a press conference on Sept. 18, 2018, and Oct. 17, 2018, and numerous other false and misleading statements were made to the media by both DA Rackauckas and [his chief of staff Susan Kang] leading up to the Orange County district attorney election held on Nov. 6, 2018.”

Ferlauto said there were statements that video evidence was available from one of the accusers and other evidence that could point to assaults of as many as a thousand women in addition to DNA evidence.

“None of that was true,” Ferlauto said, adding it led to a “media feeding frenzy in which [they were] characterized throughout the world as voracious [rapists] with as many as a thousand victims.”

Ferlauto noted that Spitzer assigned a team of prosecutors to reexamine the case and that after three months they “concluded that there was not a single video or photo showing an unconscious or incapacitated woman being sexually assaulted.”

Ferlauto also alleged that the team concluded that “District Attorney Investigator Jennifer Kearns ... failed to mention key, exculpatory details in her reports, engaged in conclusory and suggestive interview techniques and provided an unsolicited search warrant to the Newport Beach Police Department that overstated the evidentiary conclusions, usurped the Newport Beach Police Department as lead investigator, admitted to the de novo review team that each accuser’s case was problematic, made statements to OCDA management that she had specific photos or videos of unconscious women being sexually assaulted when the review of the evidence by the de novo review team showed the precise opposite and persuaded women to identify as victims when they did not initially believe they had been victimized.”

Spitzer and his office decided they did not have enough evidence to go forward and sought to dismiss the case, but an Orange County Superior Court judge denied the motion.

Ferlauto also claimed that prosecutors for the Attorney General’s Office also concluded that it was “plagued with evidentiary problems and moved to dismiss many of the charges.”

Ferlauto said the case was brought against his clients for political reasons to boost Rackauckas’ reelection chances.

Prior to the publicity, Robicheaux “had an extremely successful and profitable medical practice,” Ferlauto said. “He has incurred unnecessary attorney fees. He has suffered severe emotional distress, damage to reputation, invasion of privacy, false light publicity, abusive process and interference with business relations and prospective economic advantage.”

Riley could not pursue her career in education and dance as a result of the publicity and lost pay at a transportation company when she was demoted.

“She has suffered severe emotional distress, damage to reputation, invasion of privacy, false light publicity, abusive process, and interference with business relations and prospective economic advantage.”

The claim names Rackauckas, Kang, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Jennifer Walker, former Deputy Dist. Atty. Mike Carroll and Kearns.