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Ex-NFL Star Found Guilty Of Raping Developmentally Disabled Woman Who Came To His Home For Babysitting Job Interview
Dana Stubblefield, a former San Francisco 49er, faces 15 years to life in prison for the sexual assault, which also involved the use of a gun.
A former NFL star has been found guilty of raping a developmentally disabled woman he lured into his home for a babysitting job interview. He faces 15 years to life in prison.
Dana Stubblefield, a former San Francisco 49er, found his 31-year-old victim on the babysitter hiring website SitterCity.com, prosecutor said, according to the Los Angeles Times. He asked her to come to his California home for a 20-minute interview, saying he would pay for her gas and time.
After leaving Stubblefield's house at the end of the interview, the victim received a text from him asking her to come back so he could pay her, according to a Morgan Hill Police Department incident report cited by the Associated Press. She did – and when she got there, Stubblefield allegedly threatened the woman with a gun, carried her into his room, took off her clothes and sexually assaulted her, prosecutors said.
The victim was identified as “developmentally disabled” in a Monday press release by the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office.
Following the incident, Stubblefield allegedly paid the woman $80 and let her go. She immediately went to the police and reported that she had been raped.
Stubblefield was arrested in May 2016, and on Monday a jury found him guilty of rape by force, oral copulation by force and false imprisonment, according to the district attorney’s press release. The jury also found that Stubblefield used a gun during the assault.
Stubblefield had also been charged with raping and orally copulating with a person incapable of giving consent. However, he was not found guilty of these charges. He may be sentenced to anywhere from 15 years to life in prison.
At trial, Stubblefield's attorneys claimed that his victim did in fact consent to having sex with him in order to be paid.
“What is this case about? This is about money for sex. That’s what happened. She was desperate for money, went home for a job and entered into a consensual sexual relationship,” the defense argued, according to The Mercury News.
The judge prevented Stubblefield’s attorneys from presenting alleged evidence that, prior to her assault, the victim had conducted internet searches about being paid for sex and uploaded a nude video of herself online, the Mercury News reported.
Stubblefield had previously been arrested on charges of assaulting his then-wife in 2000, the East Bay Times reports. In a separate instance, a former fiancee obtained a restraining order against him, claiming he “threatened [her] with violence and death”; Stubblefield was later found guilty of stealing that woman’s mail – including her unemployment checks.
The district attorney’s office considered Stubblefield’s Monday conviction a major win.
“This was a triumph of resilience. The victim has struggled her whole life with learning disabilities and challenges to be self-sufficient. If we are not fighting for her, then who are we fighting for?” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in the press release.
