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DA: Woman was set up



Attleboro police close off a portion of O'Neil Boulevard near the intersection of Pearl Street Tuesday morning after a water pipe burst compromising the sub-surface of the street. (Staff photo by MARK STOCKWELL)




ATTLEBORO - A 19-year-old woman allegedly raped by two acquaintances who laced her drink with a prescription narcotic, told police she met the men at an Attleboro apartment where she was told there was a party.

But when the woman arrived, she was met outside the South Main Street apartment and told all the guests had left. Nonetheless, the woman said she agreed to go inside for a fruit punch and vodka cocktail.

The woman, a Walpole resident, told investigators she went from not feeling any effect of the alcohol in one instant, "to what she described as totally passing out," First Assistant Bristol County District Attorney Paul Machado said Monday in Attleboro District Court.

The next thing the woman remembered was waking up clothed with her underwear in her hand at the North Attleboro apartment of one of the two men, Machado said.

When the two suspects, Jeffrey S. Sullivan, 18, of 80 Gilmore Road in Wrentham, and Gregory Wilfinger, 21, of 25 Depot St. in North Attleboro, were questioned by police, they gave differing accounts implicating the other, Machado said.
Sullivan, an electrician apprentice with only a minor arrest record, pleaded innocent and was freed after posting $2,500 cash bail.

Wilfinger pleaded innocent but was ordered held in jail without bail pending a probation hearing in a prior unrelated case.

The men face several charges filed by Attleboro police, including drugging a person for sexual intercourse, conspiracy to commit rape and drug a person for sex and giving alcohol to a minor filed by Attleboro police.

North Attleboro police also filed aggravated rape charges against the two suspects.

Authorities said the alleged incident occurred over the first weekend in March, but was reported to police on Thursday.

However, Machado said the woman was taken to Caritas Norwood Hospital after going home the morning she woke up. Drug tests taken by the woman indicated the presence of Klonopin, the drug with which the two men are accused of lacing the woman's drink, Machado said.

Klonopin is used to treat seizures and panic disorders.

When questioned by police, each defendant blamed the other for putting the pills in the woman's drink, Machado said.

Both men are accused of engaging in sex acts with the woman and one of the defendants made a remark to the woman about her anatomy when she awakened, Machado said.

The men were arrested on Friday, following an investigation by Attleboro detectives Sgt. Arthur Brillon and Jeffrey Peavey and North Attleboro Detective John Reilly.
Sullivan's lawyer, R. Bradford Bailey of Boston, said the facts in the case are disputed and that his client was fully cooperative with police.

"Obviously, there is a disparity of who might have done what," Bailey said during a bail hearing.

Sullivan's family members, including his parents, declined comment when approached by a reporter.

Wilfinger's family also declined to comment, but one brother who didn't give his name, said, "He's a good kid."

Wilfinger's lawyer, John Duggan of North Attleboro, said his client had only a minor arrest record and works for a company that repairs MRI machines at hospitals throughout the state.

Wilfinger was ordered held in jail without bail because he is on probation for urinating in public in the parking lot of Showcase Cinemas in North Attleboro.

Judge Gregory L. Phillips also set bail in the rape case at $5,000 cash bail, which was requested by the prosecution.

Both men are due back in court March 26.

 


Anonymous wrote on Mar 13, 2007 6:10 PM:

" These two should serve life. They could have KILLED the victim. They should also be charged with attempted murder. I hope that anyone else who was at the South Main Street apartment are being charged with AT LEAST distribution of alcohol to a minor, as well as conspiracy for possibly knowing about what the two planned on doing to the victim. "


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