Woman Wins Date With 'Great Catch,' Gets Raped

[marmar]

via AlterNet's PEEK:



Woman Wins Date With 'Great Catch,' Gets Raped

Posted by Staff, AlterNet at 11:16 AM on November 25, 2008.

The radio station said Travis Harvey of Gurnee was a "great guy" and "kind."



From the Chicago Tribune:

A Lake County woman who won a date with a man a radio station called a "great" catch is suing the station for promoting the man, who had a criminal history and allegedly sexually assaulted her on the date she won.

The woman, who filed the suit late Thursday under the name Jane Doe, said Waukegan radio station WXLC, which is owned by NextMedia, ran the "Win a Date with Travis" competition last year. The radio station said Travis Harvey of Gurnee was a "great guy" and "kind." But as a busy single father, Harvey couldn't find the time to meet the right woman.

Female contestants came to an event hosted by the radio station on Jan. 30, 2007, at a Waukegan sports bar. They sat down with Harvey to answer rounds of questions, said Bob Baizer, one of the attorneys who filed the suit on Jane Doe's behalf.

Doe, then 23, won, and that weekend Harvey promised her a date at Chicago's House of Blues -- only to later say he was too tired, and invited her to his home for pizza instead, Baizer said. The woman went, and after a single drink, felt extremely drowsy. Harvey then raped her, the suit alleges. Attorneys say she was drugged.

(...)

Baizer said Harvey had previously been convicted twice of violating a domestic violence order of protection taken out by another woman. The radio station was negligent for not checking Harvey's record, and for promoting him as a safe -- and desirable -- date, the suit alleges.

By the by, the "great guy" already pleaded guilty to criminal sexual abuse for the assault. His punishment? Probation. He will only receive jail time if he violates that probation. How much jail time? One year in prison. What an outrage.


http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/108635/woman_wins_date_with_%27great_catch%2C%27_gets_raped/

[flvegan]

1. That "sentence" is a guffaw in the face of justice.

What bullshit.

[LisaL]

6. She didn't go to the police until several days later.

By that time there was no physical evidence.

[Muttocracy]

2. probation?! on what basis? he'll just do it again, again!

[Berry Cool]

3. This is insane.

And what about the radio station that encouraged people to drink water by the gallons in order to win a prize, and someone ended up dying of water poisoning? Isn't it time radio station "contests" were regulated so they don't encourage people to walk right into dangerous shit?

[Ecumenist]

4. That dumbass radio station was right here in Sacramento California

The woman that dies was from the suburban city I lived in for 16 years...Rancho Cordova.

[Gwendolyn]

5. The story in the trib said there was no evidence, so guess he plea-bargained

his sentence down to nothing. Normally he would've gotten at least 6 or 7 years in jail.

Bastard probably will do it again as soon as his year is up.