iStock/Thinkstock(NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.) — Lauren Hayden said she sensed something was wrong when she went on a date with prominent doctor Grant Robicheaux last year.
“I was in the pool with him, or jacuzzi, and he started trying to rip my top off,” she told Good Morning America.
“When I said ‘no’ it was like he wasn’t even hearing me, he just kept going at it,” Hayden continued. “He had no concept of personal autonomy, no concept of consent, no concept of no.”
Hayden is looking back on the date now because Robicheaux, a Newport Beach orthopedic surgeon who appeared on a reality dating show, and a female companion are facing multiple rape and other felony charges.
The charges against Robicheaux and Cerissa Laura Riley announced earlier this week stem from the accounts of two alleged victims.
Now, more than six other women have come forward with accusations against the pair, Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said.
The attorneys for Robicheaux and Riley released a statement Tuesday night “unequivocally” denying “all allegations of non-consensual sex.”
“They have been aware of these accusations for a number of months, and each of them will formally deny the truth of these allegations at their first opportunity in court. 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,” the statement from the attorneys said.
Rackauckas described the process the pair allegedly used to lure women in. They allegedly sent Riley to approach the women first, then proceeded to use drugs or alcohol to incapacitate them and then rape them, often shooting video of the assaults.
During a news conference announcing the charges on Tuesday, Rackauckas said that prosecutors had found “thousands” of videos on Robicheaux’s phone that they believe could include other potential victims.
The six other potential victims who have come forward are from at least two other states, New York and Nevada, and a different California county.
Rackauckas said that in these types of crimes, the perpetrators develop a process and continue to use it.
“Usually with MO’s [modus operandi], if they work they maintain those consistently,” he said.
Hayden said that she went on a date with Robicheaux in 2017 after matching with him on Tinder. She learned about the charges against him when she happened to be reading news on her phone.
“His face came up and I just started screaming,” Hayden said. “I just started sobbing.”
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