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She Claimed He Raped Her And He Was Arrested. She Was Soon Charged With Filing A False Police Report.

   DailyWire.com
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A male Coker University student is suing after he was arrested and temporarily suspended from the school after what he says was a false accusation of sexual assault.

The student, Cesar Lopez, filed a lawsuit against the city of Hartsville, South Carolina, the Hartsville police department, and three officers back on April 28. The next day, he filed a lawsuit against the university and multiple individuals. The case was dismissed by Lopez’s attorneys who then filed an amended complaint at the end of June, SC Now reported.

The lawsuit stems from an incident between Lopez and a female student named Lauren Pearson. The two students had a sexual encounter around 4:30 a.m. on April 29, 2018, in a residence hall bathroom. The amended complaint, according to SC Now, says Pearson left the encounter to laugh and joke with her friends. She claimed to police that she ran from the bathroom and quickly left the residence hall.

Pearson told two law enforcement officials at 6:40 a.m. that she had been raped. Lopez’s lawsuit alleges inconsistencies in Pearson’s claim. She allegedly told an officer that she ran from the bathroom before Lopez. The complaint alleges Pearson told her friends that Lopez left first.

Lopez says he was then warrantlessly arrested by Hartsville police – before the case was even assigned to a detective or any investigation took place. Lopez alleges a warrant for his arrest was issued later that morning and charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping.

“First-degree criminal sexual conduct is a felony. Conviction of the crime carries a penalty of not more than 30 years in prison. Kidnapping is also a felony. It also carries a penalty of not more than 30 years in prison if a person is convicted of the crime,” SC Now reported.

Lopez says in his lawsuit that he was kicked off the Coker soccer team and withdrawn from the university. He would have to re-apply to the university even if the charges were dismissed.

The former Coker student also said in his complaint against the city that Pearson didn’t respond to police requests for two days before taking a polygraph test on May 2. On May 4, she was arrested and charged with filing a false police report.

Lopez posted a $100,000 bond on May 2 to get out of jail. His family hired an attorney who discovered witnesses saw Lopez and Pearson “making out” the night of the alleged rape. The attorney also discovered Pearson had accused two others of sexual assault the previous semester.

As SC Now reported, Pearson was allegedly dating a student referred to only as A.E. in the fall of 2017. A.E. broke up with her and Pearson began seeing another student. She would later tell A.E. that the other student raped her. A.E. allegedly confronted the other man and discovered Pearson had lied. She later allegedly sent a message to A.E. admitting she lied. She and A.E. got back together, but when he ended their relationship a second time, she accused him of raping her.

A.E., according to Lopez’s amended complaint, was given a no-contact order and his claims of a false accusation were not investigated by Coker, even though the university has a policy to investigate such claims.

Lopez alleges he informed a police officer about Pearson’s previous false accusations but that they were ignored prior to the student’s arrest. Pearson was arrested for filing a false report but was released on a $10,000 surety bond, SC Now reported.

“Filing a false police report accusing someone else of a felony is a felony and carries a penalty of not more than five years in prison and not more than a $1,000 fine, or both,” the outlet reported.

Lope was reinstated to Coker but is still suing, alleging his reinstatement took place two days after the university learned the allegations were false. He was subsequently found not responsible in a university Title IX hearing a week later and returned to the soccer team.

Coker sought to dismiss the lawsuit in part because it provided Lopez additional time to study for his final exams after he was released from jail.

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