By R Barrington & S. Riley
News-Chronicle
Two downtown bars are closed. Their owner is in custody. And police and the Brown County District Attorney's office are looking for more victims after the man was arrested for having sex with unconscious women and videotaping it.
Marcus Somerhalder, owner of downtown bars The Velvet Room and Washington Street Lounge, was charged Monday in Brown County Circuit Court with two counts of second-degree sexual assault and three counts of making a visual representation of nudity.
The Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department and district attorney's office told reporters Tuesday morning they were looking for more victims after finding dozens of pornographic tapes in Somerhalder's Ashwaubenon apartment.
"We believe there are more individuals involved," said DA John Zakowski. "We have multiple victims, some we know about and some we do not, and we are urging them to come forward," added Lt. Ken Raupach of the Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department.
Reports said 15 or 16 women came forward after reports of the arrest.
Anyone with information should contact either the Ashwaubenon Public Safety Department, 492-2995, or the Brown County Sexual Assault Center, 436-8899.
The sexual assault counts for forcible intercourse and sex with a person under the influence and impaired took place Friday and in January 2001. The representation of nudity counts took place in September, as well as January 2001 and December 2001.
"The videotape does not seem to be consensual," Raupach said. "The videos appear to show him having sexual contact with women who seem to be unconscious."
Somerhalder, 28, is being held on $50,000 bond and could face 68 years in prison on the present charges.
The request issued Tuesday to other possible victims included a promise from Jeanie Reimer of the Sexual Assault Center for "privacy and support." "They may have (the attack) in their minds, but now they see it on camera," she said.
City Attorney Lanny Schimmel said the city has not yet determined what to do with Somerhalder's Washington Street bars, the Velvet Room and the Washington Street Lounge, located next to each other at 123-125 S. Washington St. Meanwhile, the businesses were closed voluntarily Tuesday night.
When the police investigation is complete, the city can consider whether to revoke the licenses, Schimmel said. The issue would go to the city's Protection and Welfare Committee and eventually the City Council. In cases where crimes are committed by licensees, the city looks at the charges and whether they are connected to the business, he said.
"It depends upon the factual basis for the case," he said. "We have to show that the criminal act ... is substantially related to the types of things involved in a licensed establishment.
"We have complete authority," Schimmel said about the city's power over the licenses.
According to a criminal complaint, Somerhalder's girlfriend said she was with him until 4:30 a.m. Friday at The Velvet Room and then went to her residence. Somerhalder, the report said, got angry when another man's voice was on the woman's answering machine. He left, then returned after repeated phone calls including one to her ordering her to be naked when he arrived. When he did and she wasn't, he allegedly had forced sex with her and then left, the report says.
When questioned by police, the woman said she had previously found a video camera at his apartment. She looked at the tape and discovered she was on it having sex, an incident she did not remember, the report says.
Another woman said she had been invited to Somerhalder's De Pere apartment and was sober when she arrived. After having a drink, she became ill but, she said, Somerhalder went on to have intercourse with her against her protests, at one point hitting her with an alarm clock.
The incident, she said, was taped. The woman became pregnant and eventually had an abortion; Somerhalder, she said, later destroyed the videotape in her presence and offered her $700 to pay for the abortion, the report said.
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