| For Immediate Release Case # 08CF3712
January 6, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
TWO SANTA ANA CITY COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYERS AND HIGH SCHOOL FRIEND TO APPEAR IN COURT FOR RAPING AND SEXUALLY ASSAULTING AN UNCONSCIOUS WOMAN ON VIDEOTAPE
SANTA ANA – Two Santa Ana City College football players and a friend from high school will appear together in court for the first time for a pre-trial and bail review hearing for raping and sexually assaulting 18-year-old Jane Doe while she was unconscious and incapacitated due to intoxication. The defendants are charged with one felony count of rape of a person unable to resist due to an intoxicating substance, one felony count of rape of an unconscious person, one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of an unconscious person, one felony count of sexual penetration by foreign object of a person unable to resist due to an intoxicating substance, one felony count of oral copulation of an unconscious person, and one felony count of oral copulation of a person unable to resist due to an intoxicating substance. If convicted on all counts, each defendant faces a maximum sentence of 18 years in state prison.
DEFENDANTS
John Paul Foster II, 22, Seaside, Monterey County, was arrested on Monday, Dec. 29, 2008, and was arraigned on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008. Michael Alexander Clemmons, 19, Tustin, was arrested on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008, and was arraigned on Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008. Luster Mitchell Lewis, 20, Irvine, turned himself into court on Friday, Jan. 2, 2009, and was arraigned. Clemmons and Lewis are out of custody on $100,000 bail. Foster is being held on $100,000 bail. All three will appear in court tomorrow, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, at 8:30 a.m., in Department C-55, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana for a pre-trial and bail review hearing.
The three defendants became friends while attending Tustin High School. Foster occasionally visits friends in Orange County and Clemmons and Lewis currently play football for Santa Ana City College.
VIDEOTAPED INCIDENT
In July 2008, the three defendants were partying at the Key Inn at 1611 El Camino Real in Tustin. Jane Doe arrived and later passed out. The three defendants are accused of knowing that Jane Doe was unconscious, incapacitated, and unable to resist due to intoxication. Foster is accused of using a video camera to tape the duration of the charged sexual assaults.
Clemmons and Lewis are accused of removing Jane Doe’s clothes and sexually assaulting the victim. Clemmons and Lewis are accused of moving the victim from the bed to the floor and putting her body in different positions as they repeatedly raped, orally copulated, and digitally penetrated Jane Doe. One defendant is accused of ejaculating on the victim’s face. Foster is accused of sexually assaulting the victim on tape while holding the video camera by rubbing his penis against her face. Foster is accused of then handing the video camera to another defendant and urinating on Jane Doe.
Throughout the sexual assault, the non-responsive Jane Doe was unconscious and unable to resist because she was under the influence of an intoxicating substance. The defendants are accused of slapping her in the face, telling her to wake up, and holding the victim’s nose closed to suffocate her in order to wake her up. Jane Doe did not wake up on the video.