Alleged rape victim testifies; Painesville man’s attorneys argue her credibility at issue

A Painesville woman testified Tuesday in Lake County Common Pleas Court that Melvin Allen raped her at her apartment while her 1-year-old daughter cried in the next room.

The alleged victim, now 21, said she had recently met Allen, a 30-year-old former Painesville man, through a mutual friend.

After Allen got her phone number from someone else and began calling and texting her, the woman testified she told him she wasn’t interested in dating him.

It is undisputed that Allen somehow got into the woman’s Argonne Arms apartment around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 21, 2011.

The alleged victim began crying as she testified she tried to grab her phone for help after repeatedly asking Allen to leave.

‘He grabbed me and pulled me down on the bed,’ she said. ‘I told him to get off of me. He just laughed.’

Prosecuting attorney Taylir Linden said Allen sexually assaulted the woman several times.

‘He laughed at her and then he raped her repeatedly,’ Linden said. ‘He thought it was funny.’

Linden said Allen was able to get inside the apartment after the alleged victim failed to close her door all the way after investigating a noise.

However, defense attorney Steven Bradley said evidence will show Allen was an invited guest to the single mother’s home.

‘We think this case is about a young lady who had a planned late-night rendezvous with Melvin Allen at her apartment,’ said Bradley. ‘And as planned, he showed up at her apartment, stayed there 2 1/2 hours, they hung out together, had consensual sexual activity, and he left.

She later regretted her choice, called 911 and went to the hospital. In the two weeks before the incident, there were 200 back and forth phone calls and texts between the two, said Bradley.

In addition, Bradley argued a surveillance video from the apartment complex that night shows Allen sitting on steps talking on his phone at 2:20 a.m. while sitting 30 feet from the woman’s home.

Phone records prove Allen was talking to the alleged victim at the time, and that she initiated the call, he added.

At 2:37 a.m., the woman opened the door and shut it after finding nobody there. Allen then casually opened the door and walked inside, said the defense attorney.

At 4:50 a.m, he is seen on video leaving the apartment. Eighteen hours later, she called 911.

The woman told the nurse who performed sexual assault testing on her Allen called her multiple times that night while she was getting ready to go to bed.

‘He never called her,’ Bradley said.

However, the defense attorney claimed the woman called Allen the day after the alleged incident around 4 a.m.

‘She calls him. You know, the guy she said hours earlier brutally raped her for 2 1/2 hours,’ said Bradley.

The defense attorney said a trauma nurse found no sign of trauma or injury when she examined her.

He also noted that the woman filed a civil lawsuit in November seeking more than $50,000 in damages from the apartment complex, now called Seneca Grove Apartments, claiming poor security caused her rape.

‘She has found a way to turn this into an opportunity to make money,’ Bradley said.

‘She has a financial stake in the outcome of this trial. She knows if he’s convicted of rape, she’s getting paid.’

A jury of seven men and seven women (including alternates) must decide whether Allen is guilty of three counts of rape and one count each of gross sexual imposition and burglary.

Testimony continues before Judge Eugene A. Lucci. Related:

Rape trial begins for Cleveland man accused of breaking into Painesville apartment (Jan. 27, 2014) Accused Painesville rapist pleads not guilty at arraignment (July 26, 2013) Painesville man added to U.S. ‘Dangerous Dozen’ list (June 29, 2013)