| For Immediate Release Case # 08HF1870
October 1, 2008 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
LA SHERIFF’S DEPUTY CHARGED WITH TORTURE, MAYHEM, AND SODOMY FOR ATTACKING WIFE AND HER FRIEND IN IRVINE APARTMENT LEASING OFFICE
NEWPORT BEACH – A Los Angeles Sheriff’s deputy has been charged with torturing and forcibly sexually assaulting his wife and another man after learning that his wife was leaving him. Robert Avery McClain, 34, Irvine, is charged with one felony count of aggravated mayhem, one felony count of torture, one felony count of sodomy by force with great bodily injury, with sentencing enhancements for the personal use of a deadly weapon, great bodily injury to a sexual assault victim, and the use of a deadly weapon during a sexual offense. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. McClain is being held on $1 million bail, and the People will request that he be held without bail at his arraignment at the Harbor Justice Center in Newport Beach.
As the defendant is being medically treated and the arraignment date is to be determined. The Orange County District Attorney’s Office will send a media advisory with updated arraignment information when it becomes available.
McClain was a 10-month deputy on probation with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. On Sep. 28, 2008, McClain’s 31-year-old wife, Jane Doe, with whom he shares four children, told him that she was leaving him. Jane Doe worked at a leasing office for an apartment complex in Irvine and wanted to leave McClain for one of the residents at the complex, 23-year-old John Doe. McClain is accused of asking Jane Doe to take him to meet John Doe, and the two of them went to John Doe’s apartment at approximately 10:00 p.m. After arriving, McClain is accused of leading the victims to the leasing office and into a back kitchenette area. He is accused of starting to argue with Jane Doe and John Doe, and then repeatedly punching and kicking both victims. McClain is accused of taking out a knife and forcing both victims to undress at knife point. McClain also undressed.
While at knife point, McClain is accused of unsuccessfully ordering Jane Doe to orally copulate both him and John Doe. He is accused of giving Jane Doe the knife and instructing her to castrate John Doe. Jane Doe fearfully pretended to follow his instructions. He is accused of using the knife to repeatedly slice John Doe’s face.
McClain is accused of leaving John Doe and fleeing the scene, taking Jane Doe with him against her will. After leaving the leasing office, he is accused of forcibly sodomizing Jane Doe, chopping off her hair with the knife, and ultimately driving her back to their Irvine home.
At approximately 5:00 a.m. on Sep. 29, 2008, Jane Doe was able to leave the house with her four children and drive to a nearby hospital. At approximately 7:00 a.m., a cleaning crew discovered John Doe in the leasing office and called 9-1-1. Both victims are expected to survive.
The investigation is ongoing. Deputy District Attorney Andre Manssourian of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.