An alleged assault against a mentally disabled woman by a former Cobb County police officer was a “sexual fantasy” between two consenting adults, the ex-officer’s lawyer argued in court Friday.
New details were divulged during Robert Lanier New’s probable cause hearing Friday morning. A judge granted New a $75,000 bond, Channel 2 Action News reported.
New has been in the Cobb jail since his June 18 arrest amid allegations he slapped and choked a 44-year-old woman — who has the mental capacity of a 10- to 14-year-old — during sex, AJC.com previously reported. Two days after those accusations surfaced, Cobb police said New attempted to solicit the woman’s 12-year-old niece for sex.
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But New’s attorney, Phillip Holloway, told the courtroom his client is innocent.
“This is not an aggravated assault, it’s not an assault,” he said.
Cobb police Det. Brandon Moore testified that New, 46, met the woman on an app called MeetMe, which allows people to chat through text messaging or video, and exchanged thousands of Facebook and text messages with her.
Moore said New’s girlfriend, Tara Croker, drove him to pick up the woman the night of the alleged assault, Channel 2 reported.
According to arrest warrants, New choked the woman and slapped both sides of her face during sex to the point she cried. The woman told officers that with New’s hands around her throat, she wasn’t able to tell him to stop, the warrant alleges.
The incident happened sometime between March 1 and March 31 at his home on Hawkins Store Road in Kennesaw, according to police. New was off duty at the time.
The victim’s allegations were corroborated through text messages on her phone, according to the warrant.
“The accused made the statements through text messages, ‘I am in charge, I am in control,’” police said. The threatening messages allegedly continued even after the victim attempted to distance herself from New, as recently as March 31.
Crocker testified she was in another room when the incident took place, but said she didn’t see anyone crying or screaming.
But police argued the victim was held against her will.
“She said she cannot breathe,” Moore said in court. “She (said) she thought she was going to die. She could not tell him to stop.”
But Holloway argued there was no law that there has to be a safe word when “having rough sex.”
The judge ruled there was probable cause for New’s case to be sent to Superior Court, according to Channel 2.
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New, who resigned from the department after his arrest, was also being investigated by Cobb police regarding an administrative complaint. Details of the complaint and the outcome of the investigation have not been released.
New joined the department in February 2005.
His law enforcement career dates to September 1998, when he worked with Emerson police. He left that department a few months later and began working for Acworth police.
New returned to Emerson in November 2000 and became police chief. He resigned in 2004 to work as a government contractor.
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