Community Corner

Update: DA Drops Rape, Kidnap Charges vs. Tea Party Spokesman

Lemon Grove's Michael John Kobulnicky is free: "It's been hell."

Updated 1:45 p.m. March 29:

The San Diego County District Attorney’s Office has dropped sexual assault and kidnapping charges against a Lemon Grove man after a woman who accused him of raping her on Fiesta Island recanted her story, prosecutors said Thursday.

Judge Timothy Walsh ordered Michael John Kobulnicky's immediate release from the downtown courthouse.

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"I feel great, you guys," Kobulnicky told reporters outside court. "It's so great when you tell everybody from the beginning that you're innocent, that you haven't done any crimes, and you're hoping your best friends and your family will believe you, and there's definitely people who stuck by my side.

"Over the past week, so much great evidence came out supporting that I didn't commit any crimes," he said.

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"It's been hell," Kobulnicky added. "It's been devastating to me, my fiancee—I was supposed to get married in a week. I've lost my job. I got fired from the San Diego Community College District. So I'm working to get my job back. I'm shaken up completely. I just wanted to clear my name."

Kobulnicky and his legal team refused to discuss details of the case.

Last Friday, Kobulnicky's attorneys said two acquaintances of the alleged victim came forward and reported conversations in which the woman said she was lying about the sexual assault.

San Diego police officers conducted a thorough investigation after the woman's rape claims, and found physical evidence that was consistent with, and corroborated the woman's claims, according to prosecutors.

But just two days after the alleged victim stood up in court and told a judge , the woman recanted her original statement and denied that she was kidnapped and forcibly raped by anyone.

According to 10News, Michael John Kobulnicky, 50, a former spokesman for the San Diego Tea Party, will be released from jail Thursday. He was arrested March 15 on several counts of rape, sexual assault and kidnapping, and was initially ordered held on $500,000 bail.

“When we receive new information that leads us to determine we can no longer prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, we do the right thing and move quickly to dismiss the charges,” said District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis.

According to UT San Diego, defense attorney Heather Melone said her client broke down in tears upon hearing the news.

“We felt confident in our case from the very beginning,” Melone said.

after a woman reported the alleged crimes, and investigators gathered evidence, including surveillance video. Six days after the Feb. 25 incident, detectives released some of the footage to local news outlets, and the resulting publicity generated “numerous” tips that helped detectives identify Kobulnicky as the alleged assailant, authorities said.

The case took a bizarre turn Monday, however, when the woman stood up in court and told Judge Theodore Weathers that Kobulnicky was not the man who raped her.

Kobulnicky's attorneys said that their client admitted picking up the 56-year-old woman in Linda Vista as she was walking home, then having a consensual sexual encounter with her on Fiesta Island before he drove away.

Outside court today, defense attorney Kerry Armstrong said the alleged victim had zero credibility and was a chronic liar.

"I'm no psychologist, but I think she has some severe mental issues," Armstrong said. "As mad as I am at her, and as mad as Mr. Kobulnicky must be at her, I'm at least glad that she came forward yesterday and finally told the truth."

Armstrong called the San Diego Police Department's investigation into the alleged rape "pathetic."

—City News Service contributed to this report.


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