Ex-GOP Chairman Drugged, Raped Employee: DA [UPDATE]

Former Montgomery County Republican Committee Chairman Robert J. Kerns has been arrested for rape of an unconscious person and related charges after an alleged sexual assault that occurred in late October, according to Montgomery County District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman.

Kerns, 66, who led the GOP from 2008 through Nov. 15 when he resigned after the sexual assault investigation was reported, was charged with 19 criminal counts, including rape of an unconscious victim, rape of a substantially impaired person sexually assault, aggravated indecent assault without consent, possession of an instrument of crime with intent, and possession of a controlled substance.

According to Ferman, Kerns and the victim, and employee at his Upper Gwynedd law firm, were at a work celebration at Radice restaurant in Whitpain township on Oct. 25. Around 6 p.m., Kerns offered the victim a ride to her home in King of Prussia and allegedly encouraged her to drink from a bottle of wine that he had secretly drugged with Ambien.

Ferman says that the victim lost consciousness, and Kerns raped and sexually abused her while in his car; the assault was allegedly so violent that it cause severe genital injuries and other injuries to multiple parts of her body.

Ferman alleges that the victim began to regain consciousness as the defendant drove closer to her neighborhood, and remembers the last few turns to her house. Once at her house, the victim said Kerns took her upstairs and sexually abused her once more before leaving her home.

Kerns was also charged with unsworn falsification to authorities, tampering with physical evidence, and more.

The incident occurred just one day after Kerns announced a truce among warring factions in the Republican Party, which had impacted the party for decades.