Charges dropped in kidnap-rape case

Tennessee prosecutors have dropped charges against a Snellville businessman who was accused of kidnapping and raping an Atlanta stripper.

On Thursday the Sevier County, Tenn., district attorneys’ office dismissed the charges against David Joseph Jansen.

Jansen, 46, was accused of kidnapping an Atlanta woman while she was jogging in her Morningside neighborhood in May and driving her to a cabin in the Smoky Mountains.

Assistant District Attorney Steve Hawkins said prosecutors do not plan to charge the woman nor do they have evidence that would result in a conviction of false report of a crime.

“The credibility of the alleged victim is in doubt and based upon all the evidence, we could not obtain a conviction against Mr. Jansen nor would we try,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “As District Attorneys, our job is to seek justice, not convictions. Justice requires us to dismiss these charges due to the victim’s credibility and other evidence.”

The woman, now 24, had previously been convicted of filing false reports in Cherokee and Fannin counties in Georgia.

Jansen’s attorneys Ann Short-Bowers and Donald Bosch, of Knoxville, could not be immediately reached Thursday.

An agent for the woman said the alleged victim was not aware the charges had been dropped.

However, the district attorney said he had discussed his decision with the woman on Thursday.

“She insists that her allegations are true,” Hawkins said.

Hawkins said the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department, which arrested Jansen in May, agrees with the district attorney’s decision.