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Calif. surgeon, girlfriend accused of rape face more charges

By Ray Downs
At least seven women have now accused Grant Robicheaux and Cerissa Riley of sexual assault. Photo courtesy of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas
At least seven women have now accused Grant Robicheaux and Cerissa Riley of sexual assault. Photo courtesy of Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas

Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Authorities filed more charges Wednesday against a Newport Beach, Calif., surgeon and his girlfriend who are accused of teaming up together to sexually assault several women.

Five more women came forward to accuse Grant Robicheaux, 38, of sexual assault. And four of those women accuse Cerissa Laura Riley, 31, of being part of the sexual assault. The woman accusing only Robicheaux says he raped her in 2009 after they had a date at a bar.

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Robicheaux now faces seven charges in total and Riley faces six. They have both pleaded not guilty.

"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, according to CNN.

Robicheaux and Riley were arrested for the first two charges of sexual assault on Sept. 12. They have since been freed on a $100,000 bail. With the additional charges on Wednesday, their bail was increased to $1 million and they had to give up their passports.

Robicheaux and Riley are accused of meeting women at local bars and festivals, getting them intoxicated and taking them home to be raped.

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"We believe if the defendants met the victims in a public place, drugged them while in that public place, and relocated them back to their home after their victims were rendered incapable of consent, with the intent to sexually assault their prey -- that's kidnapping," Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.

Rackauckas said last month that investigators found more than 1,000 videos and photos of women in various states of consciousness on Robicheaux's cellphone.

"It appears they are highly intoxicated beyond the ability to consent or resist, they are barely responsive to the defendants' sexual advances," Rackauckas said.

Defense attorneys Scott Borthwick and Philip Cohen said the accusations are false.

"Dr. Robicheaux and Ms. Riley believe that such allegations do a disservice to, and dangerously undermine, the true victims of sexual assault, and they are eager to have the proper spotlight shed on this case in a public trial," they said.

Before the sexual assault charges, Robicheaux had appeared on the Bravo reality show, Online Dating Rituals of the American Male.

"I am not looking for a party girl. I am looking for a wife to raise a family with," he said on the show in 2014. "I just won the title of 'Orange County's Most Eligible Bachelor.' I am trying to find that amazing beautiful woman."

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