A woman who says she was raped by Cincinnati Reds pitcher Alfredo Simon in April of 2013 is now suing him for $15 million.
The woman filed anonymously under “Jane Doe” and is seeking $5 million in compensatory damages and $10 million in punitive damages. Simon’s lawyer Jack Quinn has come out to vehemently deny the allegations, via USA Today:
“The allegations are totally baseless,…Mr. Simon will defend this matter fully and will be totally exonerated.”
The alleged rape occurred late last April when Simon and the Reds were in Washington D.C. for a four-game set vs the Nationals.
According to the complaint, the woman met Simon at The Huxley nightclub on April 27. Kevin Verdin, a man claiming to be Simon’s manager, spoke to the woman and her friends and offered them tickets to the Reds-Nationals game the next day.
He introduced the woman to Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto and Simon, who bought her drinks and then said, “We are getting out of here,” before hailing a taxi to take them to the Mayflower Renaissance Hotel. According to the complaint, the woman was “visibly intoxicated” and unable to consent.Simon and the woman arrived around 2:30 a.m. and began kissing, the complaint says.
“However, Defendant abruptly changed his behavior from a romantic encounter to a terrifying physical attack,” the complaint says. “As soon as Defendant started to get rough with her, Jane Doe told him to stop. Defendant ignored that plea, pinning Jane Doe down on her stomach while she struggled and continued to demand Defendant stop and get off her.”
According to the complaint and the police report the woman filed with Metro Police four days later, Simon tried unsuccessfully to force his penis in the woman’s vagina. He then forced his penis into her rectum, “causing Plaintiff to cry out in unbearable physical pain as he continued to rape her anally,” the complaint says.
After the alleged assault, the woman returned to The Huxley and told her roommate. A rape kit taken later that morning revealed anal tears, abrasions and protruding tissue, according to the complaint.
The woman testified before a grand jury on May 9, and on May 15, assistant U.S attorney Sharon Donovan informed the woman’s attorney that a decision had been made and a scheduled meeting the next day. In the meeting she explained the office would not be pursuing charges in the case.
Simon was previously accused of involuntary manslaughter in the Dominican Republic, after the shooting death of Michael Castillo Almonte. The shooting death occurred after celebratory shots rang out in a New Year’s party. Simon would later be acquitted.