Bar owner accused of sexually assaulting women
 

Allegations include drugging, videotaping incidents
Thursday, December 25, 2003 Posted: 11:30 AM EST (1630 GMT)

MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) -- A bar owner apparently drugged nearly a dozen women by spiking their drinks, then sexually assaulted them, sometimes videotaping the acts, prosecutors say.

Marcus B. Somerhalder, 28, faces 18 felony charges in Green Bay, including sexual assault and taking nude photos without consent. The alleged offenses date back to 1999.

The women said they mysteriously blacked out after drinking with him.

"A number of women clearly thought they may have been drugged," Brown County District Attorney John Zakowski told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "That's the only way to describe what happened, the only plausible explanation for what happened."

Somerhalder, owner of The Velvet Room and The Washington Street Lounge in Green Bay, was jailed on $50,000 bail.

His attorney, Jackson Main, said he believes his client is innocent. "This is a guy who's never been in trouble before," Main said.

Somerhalder was initially charged in early December with five counts. The additional charges were filed Tuesday after police tracked down women in nude photos seized from Somerhalder's apartment and interviewed dozens of others.

Women told investigators they met with Somerhalder and had drinks, then passed out or became sick and woke up naked, in some cases in his bed.

Two women said that they got pregnant and that Somerhalder paid each of them $700 for abortions, authorities said.

Probably he will better give out the drinks for free next time and do not charge the girls for the drinks