A 27-year old woman and her boyfriend are accused of drugging and raping a woman in Utah after the Sundance Music Festival earlier this year.
Anne Hardcastle and Michael Taylor were arrested September 9 at their SoHo apartment, after trying to convince the alleged victim to take part in a "rough" threesome, police say.
Hardcastle and Taylor each were charged last week in 3rd District Court with one count of first-degree felony object rape and second-degree felony forcible sexual abuse. Hardcastle is also charged with one count of first-degree felony forcible sodomy.
The charges followed six months of Instagram correspondence between Hardcastle and the alleged victim, who claims she "blacked out" in their hotel room and that any sexual activity had occurred without her knowledge, awareness or consent.
The victim told police she met Hardcastle on January 25 while they were at a Park City bar during the Sundance Film Festival. She was given three rounds of tequila while she chatted with the couple, according to court documents.
They then invited her to go to a party, but said they wanted to stop at their hotel room first, she told investigators.
After the victim agreed to go with them, the couple said they needed to stop at their hotel room to get something. There, the couple gave the alleged victim Ecstasy and more alcohol, then began suggesting that she participate with them in the "threesome."
The victim told police she tried to escape and sent two text messages to friends saying she might need a ride home, but then blacked out, according to the Daily News.
She woke up in bed with Hardcastle, and called an Uber driver to pick her up and take her to a friend's house.
Examination the next day found scratch marks on her upper body, suction marks on her neck, bruises and bite marks on her arm, a bitten lower lip and acute vaginal pain, police said in an arrest warrant.
Subsequently, Hardcastle sent her a friend request on Instagram and began communicating with her there, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The conversation between Hardcastle and the victim over the next few months gave police the incriminating evidence they needed to make an arrest.
