The trainer who has worked with big names in the NBA and is now facing charges in connection with a Downtown Boston rape faced a judge Tuesday in Boston.
During the arraignment, a judge set bail at $30,000 for Robert McClanaghan and ordered no contact with the victim. The 43-year-old must also surrender his passport, be placed on GPS monitoring before release and stay in Rhode Island except for legal visits and court appearances.
The Warwick, RI, resident was taken into custody Friday in East Greenwich. He was wanted on a warrant out of Boston Municipal Court for charges of rape and drugging for intercourse. Police had released little information about the alleged incident, however, new information about the allegations he's facing were detailed in a criminal complaint obtained by NBC10 Boston on Tuesday.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
Get New England news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NECN newsletters.
The complaint shows that the Boston Police Department's sexual assault unit was called to a local hospital's emergency room on Friday, Nov. 4, to speak with a victim of a recent sexual assault.
According to the complaint, McClanaghan met the victim on a dating app, and the two agreed to meet in Providence, RI, on Wednesday, Nov. 2. They met again the following day, Thursday, Nov. 3, at a restaurant inside a hotel in Downtown Boston, where the pair had one or two drinks at the bar before heading up to the woman's hotel room, the complaint said.
The woman said that after they entered her hotel room, she blacked out, and the last thing she remembers was trying to take her belt off, the document said. The woman woke up alone in bed completely naked and had "extensive bruising," the complaint said.
Local
In surveillance footage of the hotel bar, McClanaghan "is observed manipulating his front left pocket with his left hand. Seconds later, while staring at the victim's drink, the suspect places his left hand over the victim's drink, and makes a sprinkling motion with his left hand consistent with how a substance would be placed into a drink," according to the criminal complaint.
The footage shows the woman does not appear to notice McClanaghan's actions and then she proceeds to pick up her drink and consume it, the complaint said.
On the day following the incident, the complaint alleges McClanaghan texted the victim a photo that apparently showed him engaged in a sexual act with a woman in bondage who appeared to be the victim.
"She also noted that what disturbed her about the photo that the defendant sent to her was that the man in the photo had his hand pressing on an area of her back where she now displayed a large bruise," Erin Murphy, chief of the Suffolk County Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Unit said in court.
The woman told police she could not recall the activity in the photo, and that she could not or would not consent to it, the complaint stated.
McClanaghan's defense attorney maintained that the whole interaction was consensual.
"There was also text messages from the complainant indicating a desire to see him again and engage with him again," Attorney Kelli Proges said.
Resources for victims of sexual assault are available through the National Sexual Violence Resources Center and the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-4673, and Massachusetts provides this list of statewide and resources for sexual assault survivors.
A spokesperson for the DA's Office noted this is the first case in which they have filed charges for drugged rape.
Boston City Councilor Gabriela Coletta, who called for a city council hearing on spiked drinks last month after a rise in reports of incidents in Boston bars and restaurants, told NBC10 Boston that McClanaghan’s arrest sends a message.
“I think it will have a chilling effect on the perpetrators as it should be," she said. "They should be put on notice given this arrest.”
McClanaghan initially faced a judge Monday in Kent County, RI, on the additional fugitive from justice charge, where he waived extradition and was held without bail until his arraignment Tuesday in Boston.
McClanaghan is due back in court on Jan. 30. Court paperwork lists his attorney as Dan Griffin. He had no comment when reached by NBC10 Boston on Monday.
