Surgeon who appeared on Bravo reality show accused of drugging and raping women
A Southern California surgeon who appeared on Bravo's 2014 reality show Online Dating Rituals of the American Male and was once named Orange County's Most Eligible Bachelor stands accused of drugging and raping two women, with prosecutors saying there are likely at least dozens of other victims out there.
On Tuesday, prosecutors alleged that Dr. Grant William Robicheaux, 38, of Newport Beach and his girlfriend, Cerissa Laura Riley, 31, drugged and raped two women in 2016. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas described Robicheaux and Riley as being "clean-cut, good-looking people," and said they went looking for women at bars and festivals. One of the victims contacted police in April 2016 after she was allegedly raped, and on Oct. 2, 2016, one of Robicheaux's neighbors called police when he heard a different woman screaming for help from inside his house.
During subsequent searches, the Los Angeles Times reports, police found cocaine, MDMA, GBH, and illegal unregistered weapons inside Robicheaux's house, as well as several videos, including one showing sex acts with a victim. The investigation was turned over to Newport Beach prosecutors on Sept. 6, charges were filed Sept. 11, and Robicheaux and Riley were arrested Sept. 12; both are now free on $100,000 bail. They face multiple felony counts, including rape by drugs and oral copulation by anesthesia. The Times asked a Newport Beach police spokeswoman why it took so long for the arrests to be made, and she said the "evidence initially did not meet the standard to make an arrest." Catherine Garcia
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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