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'Real World' Sex-Assault Case Dropped

Friday, July 23, 2004

08:36 AM PT

San Diego prosecutors will not file charges in an alleged rape that took place on the set of MTV's "The Real World."

The San Diego County district attorney's office cited a lack of evidence in its decision to drop the case. Although investigators watched "hours and hours" of videotape from the many cameras in the "Real World" house, they could not find strong enough proof to move forward.

"At this point we're not filing," DA's spokesman Paul Levikow tells the Los Angeles Times. "That could change if new evidence comes to light."

A 22-year-old woman told police that on Nov. 14, a man drugged her in a San Diego nightclub, then took her back to the "Real World" house and raped her in a bathroom that was not equipped with a camera.

Neither the woman nor her alleged attacker were cast members on the show. A "Real World" producer told police that the man was an acquaintance of one of the cast members and was in the house that night.

Police searched the house a few days later, seizing videotape, bedding and other items. Bunim-Murray, which produces "The Real World" for MTV, also provided investigators with a log-in sheet naming everyone who was in the house that night.

The incident was not mentioned in "The Real World's" recently completed season.