An investigator with the Orange County District Attorney\u2019s Office has reached a $2.75 million settlement with the county of Orange for a whistleblower lawsuit in which she accused District Attorney Todd Spitzer of colluding with defense attorneys in order to sabotage a controversial and politically charged rape case against a Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend.<\/p>\n
The settlement is the latest fallout from the high-profile prosecution of Dr. Grant Robicheaux and Cerissa Riley, a case that initially drew international headlines, before turning into a years-long courtroom battle pitting prosecutors against some of the accusers that ultimately fell apart as all the sex charges against the couple were either dropped or dismissed<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jennifer Kearns, who led the investigation into Robicheaux and Riley under previous DA Tony Rackauckaus, filed her lawsuit against current DA Todd Spitzer in 2021<\/a>, when the case against the couple was still active. The lawsuit accused Spitzer of colluding with the couple\u2019s attorneys in order to \u201cundermine the prosecution, discredit the victims and ultimately destroy the criminal case against the criminal defendants.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhile no settlement can fully erase the pain Jennifer and her family have endured, this outcome is a measure of vindication for a woman who, even at her lowest, never stopped believing in justice \u2014 or in the victims she had dedicated her life to protecting,\u201d said Kearn\u2019s attorney, Bijan Darvish.<\/p>\n Darvish alleged that in \u201cbranding Jennifer a liar and accusing her of misconduct,\u201d leaders in the district attorney\u2019s office were sending the message that \u201cif you go against Todd Spitzer, this is what will happen. You will be shamed and punished\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Jennifer Kearns stood up for sexual assault victims and refused to stay silent about what she witnessed, Todd Spitzer made her the scapegoat,\u201d Darvish said. \u201cWhat was done to Jennifer was a deliberate abuse of authority \u2014 a coordinated effort to discredit, isolate, and ultimately break a career built on decades of integrity, simply because she refused to look the other way.\u201d<\/p>\n DA Spokeswoman Kimberly Edds described the prosecution of Robicheaux and Riley as \u201can election ruse\u201d meant to generate publicity for Rackauckas\u2019 2018 campaign that was \u201cabsolutely and patently false.\u201d Information provided to Rackauckas by Kearns, as well as the original prosecutor on the case, led the former DA to falsely claim during a press conference that there were thousands of potential victims, Edds added.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter five years of protracted litigation to correct Rackauckas\u2019 unethical pursuit of the sex charges, what the Spitzer administration said from the very beginning was absolutely true \u2013 the sex charges could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt against Robicheaux and Riley,\u201d Edds said.<\/p>\n Members of the Orange County Board of Supervisor\u2019s were informed Tuesday that Kearns had accepted the settlement and agreed to resign from the OC DA\u2019s office once she receives the payout. The settlement number was previously approved on a 3-2 vote by the supervisors during a closed session on March 10, with Supervisors Doug Chafee and Janet Nguyen voting against it, according to county records.<\/p>\n Kearns, a veteran sex crimes investigator with the Long Beach Police Department before joining the OC DA\u2019s office, took over the investigation into the Robicheaux and Riley after several of the accusers reached out to the Newport Beach Police Department.<\/p>\n In September 2018, then-DA Rackauckas described Robicheaux<\/a> \u2014 an orthopedic hand surgeon who appeared on the Bravo television show \u201cOnline Dating Rituals of the American Male\u201d \u2014 and Riley as serial predators and rapists who picked young women up at Newport Beach night spots, drugged them and then sexually assaulted them at Robicheaux\u2019s Balboa Peninsula home.<\/p>\n The couple strenuously denied the charges, with their attorneys contending they were swingers who took part in consensual sexual encounters and drug use, not sexual predators.<\/p>\n After unseating Rackauckas, Spitzer reversed course, announcing that a review of the case turned up no evidence of sexual assault and apologizing to the couple<\/a>.<\/p>\n Spitzer criticized Kearns for her role in the investigation, alleging that she used \u201covertly suggestive interview techniques\u201d with the accusers and engaged in a \u201cwhisper campaign\u201d with previous higher-ups at the DA\u2019s office in order to exaggerate the alleged evidence against Robicheaux and Riley.<\/p>\n Spitzer\u2019s efforts to dismiss the case were heatedly opposed by many of the accusers. And Kearns, in her lawsuit, alleged that Spitzer had taken seasoned prosecutors off the case and assigned it to less-experienced attorneys prior to seeking a dismissal. The lawsuit also accused Spitzer of \u201copenly expressing contempt\u201d for the accusers.<\/p>\n A judge rejected Spitzer\u2019s attempt to dismiss the case, arguing it had been \u201cinfected\u201d by politics and should have gone before a jury rather than be dropped as part of a \u201cback-room dismissal.\u201d The judge took the rare step of removing local prosecutors from the case and transferring it to the California Attorney General\u2019s Office<\/a>.<\/p>\n As the court process dragged on, the number of accusers tied to the case began to drop.<\/p>\n Some asked out, telling state prosecutors they had been \u201cgrossly mistreated\u201d and \u201cdragged through the mud.\u201d The prosecutors decided against moving forward with charges tied to some of the other accusers, determining there wasn\u2019t enough evidence to prove to a jury they had been sexually assaulted.<\/p>\n State prosecutors decided to focus on two accusers out of seven who previously had been tied to the allegations.<\/p>\n