Grand Jury Indicts Four East Henderson High School Students On Rape Charges

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   NEXT COURT DATE FOR ALL FOUR MARCH 25 

The Asheville Citizen-Times web site reported Saturday that a Henderson County grand jury has indicted four local high school students on rape charges in connection with the December assault of a classmate. Here is the Citizen-Times report:

A Henderson County grand jury has indicted four high school students on charges of raping a classmate at a party.

The indictments include one count each of second-degree rape, the same charges filed in December by the Sheriff’s Office.

Capt. Frank Stout said today he doesn’t know why the District Attorney’s Office sought the indictments. Grand juries hear evidence to determine if there is probable cause to believe someone committed a crime.

The students charged are James Matthew Bishop, 17; Vincent Joseph Curto, 18; Tyler Scott Garren, 17; and Justin Wesley Ponder, 18. All attended East Henderson High School at the time of the alleged crimes, and all but Curto were members of the school’s football team.

Stout said the investigation remains ongoing. The next court date for the defendants is scheduled for March 25.

According to a search warrant application, the victim reported the incident on Dec. 12, saying she was passed out the night of Dec. 8 and awoke to find herself undressed with a male “on top of her having sex with her.”

The four students charged in the case “all admitted to having sex with (the victim) and stated she consented to have sex with them.”

The victim’s account states she repeatedly passed out, awakening four different times with another male on top of her, having sex or engaged in a sex act.

The assault occurred at the home of a Henderson County deputy, according to arrest warrants. Those warrants charged the four males “did carnally know and abuse (the victim), who was at the time mentally incapacitated and physically helpless.”

Stout said the deputy was not home at the time of the incident, has an excellent record with the department and faces no disciplinary action. The SBI is taking the lead on the investigation because of the connection to the deputy.

The search warrant application states the victim said Garren invited her to his residence and then arranged for Bishop and Ponder to pick her up and bring her there. She arrived after 9 p.m. The people present consumed alcoholic drinks. She told police that she repeatedly passed out.

“(The victim) stated that she never consented to having sex with anyone and that she had her clothes on when she passed out,” the document states.

The application also states that Garren and Ponder “used their cellular telephones and took naked pictures of (the victim). Interviews determined that the photographs were taken without (the victim's) permission,” and that the pictures were shown to several students at school while school was in session.

The four students charged were in contact with one another via text messages discussing the sexual encounter, according to the document.

All four of the East Henderson High School teenagers had been arrested and charged in connection with the incident by Henderson County Sheriff's deputies back in December...and are awaiting court dispositions of the cases.  As the Citizen-Times reported, the next scheduled court date for the four is March 25th.