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Dr. Stephen Matthews appears in a booking photo in May 2023. (Denver Police Department)
A doctor in Colorado has been charged in 10 separate sexual assault-related cases – spanning 10 separate alleged victims – some of whom claim to have been drugged and subjected to revenge porn, police say.
Stephen Matthews, 35, was first accused in a date rape case and arrested in March. After a court appearance in that case on Monday morning, he was arrested again. He now stands accused of 16 different felony charges, including three counts of sexual assault (victim helpless); one count of sexual assault – no consent, drugging; two counts of sexual assault – overcome will, drugging; three counts of sexual assault – victim incapable appraising condition, drugging; and seven counts of second-degree assault – drugging.
“What they did was nothing more than a public spectacle,” Matthews’ attorney, Douglas Cohen, said in comments to CBS News Colorado this week. “It’s something they did not have to do. They had him arrested right in the hallway, and that was not necessary for public safety or any other reason than to create a public spectacle.”
Matthews was initially arrested on three counts of sexual assault after a woman told the Denver Police Department that she had no memory of her night out with the defendant after a certain point – but awoke amid paramedics and several “hickeys on her chest,” according to a police report obtained by CBS News earlier this year.
The doctor and the first alleged victim had communicated for weeks after meeting on the Hinge dating app, that document reportedly says. The two finally agreed to meet in late January, had brunch and mimosas, and then walked to Matthews’ home, where they played Jenga and “hung out in his hot tub,” the woman told police.
The last thing she remembered was feeling bad inside the hot tub, she told the police. Nearly 10 hours later, the woman told law enforcement she was home, with the tell-tale signs of an encounter she did not remember or consent to, law enforcement alleges.
The woman allegedly said she went forward with her criminal complaint after learning that a family friend had also gone on a date with Matthews several years before her “and had a similar experience.”
When questioned by police, Matthews admittedly had sex with the woman but said the sex was “consensual.”
The defendant told police police the woman had two shots of tequila after drinking mimosas at brunch. He claims the two started kissing in his hot tub, and then she agreed to have sex with him.
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In late April, after Matthews was released from jail on a $50,000 bond, the DPD asked for the public’s help.
“There may have been other incidents involving Matthews,” a press release says.
They asked that anyone who may have been a victim of Matthews call the Denver Police Sex Crimes Unit.
That call for help resulted in at least nine other women lodging complaints against the cardiologist, reportedly affiliated with multiple hospitals in the Mile High City metropolitan area.
In one instance, a woman alleged that she vomited after drinking and got into a fetal position in a bed in Matthews’ home.
She said she woke up at home but didn’t remember how she got there. After that encounter, Matthews apparently asked the woman to go out with him again. She declined.
After being turned down, however, Matthews allegedly sent the woman nude photographs of her, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by The Denver Post.
“My client is innocent until proven guilty,” Cohen said in comments reported by CBS News.
In a lengthier written statement obtained by the outlet, the defense attorney said the various cases against his client were “based on the government’s rush to judgment, errors of omission and failure to fully investigate. The case is about two adults who, like many folks these days, met online and had consensual sex on their first date. Unfortunately, that lifestyle can result in buyer’s remorse, jilted lovers and tall tales. But it’s not a crime,” wrote Cohen.
“This was not a rush to judgment,” the first woman to come forward told CBS News. “It’s very clear he is a dangerous person who needs to be held accountable.”
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