Pennsylvania

Ex-Temple Fraternity President Faces Rape Accuser in Court

The former president of a Temple University fraternity faced his rape accuser in a packed Philadelphia courtroom Thursday morning during a sometimes emotional preliminary hearing.

Ari Goldstein, 21, remained quiet as his 19-year-old accuser shared details of their alleged encounter. The woman testified that she felt “helpless” when Goldstein pinned her down by her wrists and used his body weight to prevent her from leaving.

“You know what you came up here to do,” Goldstein told the victim as he locked her in his bedroom at the now-defunct Alpha Epsilon Pi fraternity, the accuser said. “You know you want to do this.”

The woman, who had not met Goldstein before, agreed to enter his room thinking other people would be in there smoking cannabis, she said. Instead, the woman and Goldstein were alone, she said.

“I was not drunk - tipsy at best,” she said after defense attorney Perry de Marco Sr. insinuated that she was intoxicated during the February 2018 encounter.

It took her 30 minutes to escape, the woman said.

“This is #MeToo gone wild,” de Marco said, referring to the wave of sexual assault victims who have recently come forward with their stories. “And I’ll prove that.”

Goldstein is charged with attempted rape, intimidation, attempted sexual assault, indecent assault, simple assault, unlawful restraint and false imprisonment. Citing a lack of evidence, Judge Lydia Kirkland dismissed an attempted involuntary deviate sexual intercourse charge on Thursday.

Goldstein, of Wrightstown, Pennsylvania, was arrested in May after three victims came forward to police a month earlier. Two of them were 19 years old at the time of the attacks, according to Philadelphia police. The women had all attended parties at the now-suspended fraternity house located on North Broad Street.

The first incident happened in February at the fraternity house. In the second incident, which happened in March, a female student said she attended a party and was given several drinks. She blacked out and later awoke in bed with one of the fraternity members, according to Burgman. A third victim came forward to Temple police in April.

“I got evidence that will make you do somersaults,” de Marco said while waving an unlit cigar in front of reporters. “[Goldstein is] going to give you the truth because he has nothing to hide. He did nothing wrong.”

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