Charge Of Rape Dropped Against Great Falls Man. What Changed In The Case?

In a follow up to a story we first told you about in February, a rape charge against a 25 year old Great Falls man has now been dropped according to Cascade County Attorney Josh Racki.

Andy Lopez was charged with sexual intercourse without consent and was booked in to the county jail.  In the original charging documents the alleged victim in the case told police he took off her clothing and forced her onto the bed.  She repeated several times that she did not want to do anything.  He then put on a condom and vaginally raped her.  Before he left she tells police that Lopez tossed the condom into the garbage can, put on his clothes and left.

Racki says what changed in the case is a key piece of evidence and it came from Lopez.  Racki says Lopez actually videotaped the encounter  and Racki says it did not appear the alleged victim was being forced to have sex.  But Racki also says videotaped evidence can also be a little tricky in that it will quite often not show you what led up to the incident.

Lopez reached out to me on my facebook page and accused me of false reporting.  In our original story in February,  our information came from the original report from the county attorney's office.  Racki says that report is now considered an unproven report.  Lopez also told me in the facebook message that he was proven innocent.  Racki says that statement is not accurate but he did say the charge of rape was dropped.

Lopez did plead guilty to a charge of videotaping the encounter,  this charge was a misdemeanor.