Trial Offers Look at Date-Rape Drug

Rhonda W.’s tale of being courted, drugged unconscious with a powerful sedative and then raped is typical of the stories five women have told in recent weeks in a Santa Monica trial that is garnering international attention.

A pair of 42-year-old twin brothers from Romania are charged with sexually assaulting the women after slipping the so-called date-rape drug Rohypnol into their drinks.

The women who have testified include a flight attendant, a lawyer, a shoe saleswoman, a single mother and a college student, the latter of whom insisted on speaking with her eyes closed so she would not have to look at her alleged assailant. They range in age from their 20s to their 40s.

The suspects, George “Gino” and Julian “Stefan” Spitzer, who have both pleaded not guilty to rape and numerous other charges, face dozens of years in prison if convicted. They remain in custody in lieu of bail.

Their trial, expected to last two months, will move

into its third week Monday when the prosecution wraps up its case. So far, the trial has offered a nightmarish view of Rohypnol, which is lawfully prescribed as a sleeping aid and sedative for surgery patients in dozens of other countries but has been banned in the United States since 1996, emerging as a shadowy black market drug favored by some sexual predators.

The trial has all the makings of a low-budget skinflick, replete with descriptions of handsome, fast-talking twins duping vulnerable, lonely women; it has been widely chronicled in the tabloid press worldwide.

The brothers’ court-appointed attorneys have refused to discuss the case with the media during the trial. But during a preliminary hearing they suggested that the alleged victims were either willing partners--because they didn’t struggle or protest during sex--or were seeking vindication after being “dumped” by the twins.

Precautions Fail

Rohypnol, known on the street as “roofies,” is 10 times stronger than Valium. It has been linked to several rape cases throughout the country, in which victims experienced memory loss after consuming Rohypnol-laced beverages.

Prosecutors in the Santa Monica case, still hoping that more women will come forward, are allowing the women to testify without using their last names and requested that The Times identify them by pseudonyms.

In their testimony, the alleged victims depicted the brothers as smooth operators who preyed on their vulnerabilities and tried to impress them with talk of Hollywood connections and high-powered careers.

In reality, George was a car salesman and Julian was unemployed at the time of their arrests, prosecutors said.

The women said they took all the precautions they felt necessary for dating in the ‘90s: They drove their own cars and arranged to meet the men in public places or during daylight hours.

Rhonda W. testified that she had been widowed a year and had just started dating again when she met George Spitzer at a Pasadena car show where she was working.

She said Spitzer noticed that she had a cold and bought her medicine at a nearby drugstore. They chatted a while, exchanged phone numbers, and he invited her to tour his Marina del Rey neighborhood.

A few weeks later she drove to his apartment on a summer afternoon. He offered her chilled red wine. She was halfway through a second glass, she said, when she felt something terrible.

“I felt paralysis. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t lift my head,” she testified in a barely audible voice.

Her speech slowed, her vision blurred and her head started spinning. And then everything went black.

When she regained consciousness six hours later, she said, she was lying on a bed with her sundress above her waist and her underwear pulled down. A sweaty George was next to her, she said, his hand on her stomach, his pants unzipped.

The five Rohypnol-fueled assaults that the Spitzer twins allegedly committed occurred between April 1993 and July 1996. George was involved in three, Julian in two, prosecutors say.

In an effort to convince a jury of the brothers’ darkest nature, prosecutors called six other women who testified that the brothers switched identities in order to have sex with the other brother’s girlfriends, unbeknown to the women. No drugs were involved in those cases. The only marked physical difference between the two brothers is weight: George was 6 feet, 1 inch and weighed 190 pounds at the time of his arrest, and Julian was 6 feet and weighed 220 pounds.

At the time of their arrests in 1996, George said that a physician who is a family friend gave them the Rohypnol for back pain. Before the federal government outlawed the drug that year, it was legal to possess it with a prescription.

The case broke on July 9, 1996, when a woman told police that George Spitzer drugged and raped her on their first date. She told police she went to dinner with George in Santa Monica and awoke naked in his bed the next morning not knowing how she got there.

A lab test revealed that semen found in her vagina contained George’s DNA sequence--a sequence found in one of every 15.7 million men.

George was arrested a month later after police raided the Spitzers’ apartment and seized seven boxes of Rohypnol and 20 videotapes, which prosecutors say showed George or his twin having sex with a dozen women, many of whom appeared to be drugged.

Also confiscated was an amateur pornographic tape, produced by and featuring Julian Spitzer, called “Kisses From Romania.”

Julian denied that there was anything illegal about the confiscated videotapes.

“None of the girls here in the tapes are under the influence of alcohol or drugs or sedatives,” he told reporters after his brother was arrested. They “were, you know, having a good time.”

Media coverage of the case encouraged more women to report abuses. Three weeks after his brother was arrested, police arrested Julian on suspicion of a rape that occurred in April 1993.

George is being held on $2-million bail at Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles and Julian on $300,000 bail at the nearby Twin Towers Correction Facility.

Charges against George include five counts of rape by use of drugs and single counts of sodomy by use of drugs, kidnapping for purpose of rape and second-degree robbery.

Julian faces single counts of rape, sodomy and oral copulation by use of drugs, genital penetration with a foreign object, extortion, sexual battery and false imprisonment by use of violence.

If convicted on all counts by the six-woman, six-man jury, George would face a maximum of 60 years imprisonment and Julian would face 37.

Another alleged victim, Sharon A., a Swedish-born lawyer, testified that she met George as she was walking to the bus. The brothers drove up in a flashy red convertible asking for directions.

She said George told her they had just moved to Los Angeles from Italy to work on a movie, that he was homesick and lonely. As a foreigner, Sharon testified, she empathized with his situation and accepted an invitation to have coffee with him.

She said she rejected his attempt to kiss her on their first date a few weeks later. On their second date at a posh cafe in Brentwood, she was sipping her second glass of wine when she suddenly found herself staring at George’s lips, struggling to understand what he was saying, she said.

Then, he leaned forward, kissed her hard and said, “Let’s go,” she testified.

The remainder of the night was like a dream, she said. She had fuzzy images of riding in a car, of George carrying her to the bedroom and looking down at her naked body, and of George putting on a condom.

She testified that she was awakened the next morning when George jumped out of bed, stretched and exclaimed: “This is new day, life is great and I am young!”

She asked him what had happened and he told her they had gotten very drunk and passed out in his bed, she said.

Missing Memories

The women’s descriptions of being in a hypnotic, dream-like state are typical of Rohypnol, said David Smith, a specialist in clinical toxicology who testified for the prosecution. The drug disrupts the neurochemistry of memory in users, he said.

“Total recall with this drug just doesn’t happen,” Smith said.

The drug takes effect in 30 minutes on an empty stomach and produces a hypnotic state, he said. It is used in Europe to soothe the anxiety of patients before surgery while allowing them to follow basic instructions, such as to roll over.

Prosecutors insisted that the brothers relied on the effects of the drug to force women to participate in sex videos.

In portraying the brothers as amoral enough to switch identities, the prosecution introduced another video in which George tells the camera: “Julian’s trying to dump [Debra]. . . . Let’s see if she wants to make-up love with me instead.”

The video then shows Debra lying naked on the bed, exclaiming: “You look like you lost 10 pounds!”

George asks: “Do you like me better now or before?”

Many women said they didn’t contact the police immediately after the alleged rapes because they felt “dirty” or ashamed about what had happened. They were motivated only after hearing news accounts of the arrests, they said.

“I felt embarrassed. I blamed myself,” one woman testified as the brothers looked on impassively.

Added another: “I just want to get on with my life and forget about it.”