KTLA

Prosecutors to focus rape case against Newport Beach surgeon, girlfriend around 2 women

Grant Robicheaux, sitting with girlfriend Cerissa Riley in court Wednesday, was charged with drugging and raping five more women as prosecutors added felony kidnapping counts and increased bail for each of them to $1 million. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

State prosecutors told an Orange County Superior Court judge on Friday that they plan to move forward with a case against a Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend, centering it on sexual assault allegations lodged by two women.

Prosecutors from the attorney general’s office announced in May that they wanted to focus the case on just one woman. At the time, they said they didn’t have enough evidence to prove allegations beyond a reasonable doubt related to the other women who have accused the couple of drugging and raping them.

However, prosecutors told Judge Frank Ospino on Friday that they now intend to move forward with two of the original seven women whom Grant Robicheaux, 40, was accused of sexually assaulting. Robicheaux’s girlfriend, Cerissa Riley, 34, was originally charged with five assaults. The couple have pleaded not guilty and denied any nonconsensual sex.

A representative for the attorney general’s office could not immediately be reached for further comment. An attorney representing the couple declined to comment Friday.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.