If there was a crime committed in The Real World, it looks like there won't be any punishment.
After investigating allegations that a 22-year-old woman was raped on the set of MTV's popular reality series sometime between Nov. 14 and 15, the San Diego County District Attorney's office has decided not to file charges, citing insufficient evidence.
The alleged victim claimed she was sexually assaulted by an acquaintance of a Real World castmember. The woman says the man bought her a drink at a downtown San Diego nightspot and she passed out.
According to police, the woman, who was not part of the show, believed her assailant drugged her, brought her back to the Real World house in San Diego's Point Loma neighborhood and then raped her in the bathroom while she was unconscious.
She says she awoke fully clothed in a guest bedroom at 10:30 a.m. with a camera crew in her face.
However, after examining hours of footage taped for the reality series, in addition to evidence seized at the scene of the alleged crime, prosecutors concluded there was not enough evidence to warrant any charges.
"The case was rejected from our office, and there was not sufficient evidence," Paul Levikow, a spokesman for the D.A.'s office, said. "That could change if more evidence came forward in the future and we could prove beyond a reasonable doubt there was a crime."
According to court documents, the alleged victim suspected someone had sex with her because she felt pain in her genital area the next morning. She reported the incident to police on Nov. 16, and a subsequent medical examination revealed abrasions to both her vaginal and anal openings.
Authorities executed a search warrant on the oceanfront property, confiscating videotapes containing footage of the show, along with DVDs, bedding, towels and couch cushions.
But while the housemates live in a virtual fishbowl surrounded by more than 30 cameras recording 24-7, the bathroom was the only place where cameras were off-limits, and producers told police the alleged rape may have occurred there.
Police did not make any arrests in the case.
The police report quoted an unidentified female castmember saying that she heard a potential suspect bragging "I just hit that" as he left the house. It was that female castmember who found the woman passed out naked on the bathroom floor, dressed her and moved her to a couch. When the castmember returned home on the morning of Nov. 15, she moved the unconscious woman to the guest bedroom.
Another castmember told police that he had seen the woman barely able to stand up in the bathroom, mumbling incoherently and looking confused, according to the search warrant.
A rep the Real World production company, Bunim-Murray Productions, declined to comment, except to reiterate the statement producers and MTV issued six months ago--that they were "cooperating fully" with the investigation and that no "cast or crewmembers had any involvement in the incident."
The rape allegation wasn't the only incident to roil the Real World gang in San Diego. Castmember Robin Hibbard was arrested in September for assault while she partied at a local nightclub, and the whole thing was captured on tape.
The Real World, meanwhile, has been taping its 15th season in Philadelphia. The new episodes begin airing in September.