Shelby Accused of Sexual Assault

[RayRay]

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/08/ ... l-assault/

TMZ reports that Angelica Smith, who began working as a receptionist for the now 88-year-old Shelby in 2005, is accusing the performance parts and car manufacturer of treating her as a “personal servant” and forcing her to go on errands to collect liquor and pornography.

[lotus]

There's a "cobra" joke in here somewhere.

Seriously though, she claims to have been raped at his house but there is no mention of it being reported to police, only that she is now suing him in civil court for money. Way to be a role model for other women out there. If she was raped then I hope the rapist and Shelby are punished appropriately, in a criminal court. Just seems like if there was truth to this she would have come forward sooner.

[rabb]

classy lotus

[lotus]

If there was harassment and rape the way she says then I hope they are busted for it. But why is she suing him instead of pressing criminal charges? I'm saying that she is making it more difficult for women in similar situations to get justice, because when you go after a celebrity's money instead of prosecuting them it makes it look like you are just extorting them for money.

Assuming her accusations are true then she has chosen a poor way to go about resolving this. If it turns out to be false then I hope she is busted very publicly for it so other women's genuine claims are not trivialized because of her greed.

[rabb]

maybe I am stupid, I just tend to not assume all women are money grubbing whores and some might actually be telling the truth

being stupid doesn't make someone a liar, I just don't normally make my mind up about assault victims and throw out assumptions without knowing facts personally

I mean, I get your love for what fox news tells you...but that doesn't mean that there isn't something behind all this

[miketheknife]

You can't send your secretary out for booze and porn?

[lotus]

I was very clear that I am not presuming whether or not she is telling the truth or not. That's for the court to decide. But she has taken a route that damages the credibility of other women are similarly abused and assaulted. These sorts of accusations are so emotionally charged and subject to doubt as it is, they don't need clumsy attempts like this to make it even harder for these crimes to be punished.

I think you're missing my point here. I WANT rapists and sex offenders to get busted for it, I WANT them to do time and I WANT it to cost them personally. But waiting 8 months after the incident is alleged to have occurred and then suing for damages in civil court rather than filing charges makes people immediately doubt the facts in the case. I would think that any reputable attorney would have told her this, especially given the number of cases that I've seen in the last year alone where women were found to have fabricated stories like this in order to get a payday.