Santana Had Sex With Accuser

JUNE 24--As Florida police investigated a woman's claim that Johan Santana raped her last October on a golf course, the baseball star admitted to cops that he engaged in consensual sex with the woman "in the open field along side the golf cart path," according to a police report that includes graphic, and conflicting, accounts of the incident.

Santana, who is married with three children, and the alleged victim both live in a gated community in Fort Myers, and first met about tens days before their October 27 sexual encounter, according to a Lee County Sheriff's Office report. The document, obtained by TSG via an open records request, notes that Santana, 31, told investigators that he first "exchanged a kiss" with the woman on the evening of October 26 during a half-hour walk.

The following evening, Santana told cops, he went on another walk with the woman, during which he exchanged "several kisses and embraces along the way." They continued kissing in a "secluded, wooded" area, where the woman "seemed very excited and forward towards me," claimed the New York Mets pitcher. The pair, Santana said, "began to have sexual intercourse while standing in the open field," adding that the woman--who he portrayed as the aggressor--"was very excited and was 'masturbating' as we engaged in sexual intercourse."

The woman, Santana claimed, wanted to "continue the encounter" at her home, but "I told her I was about to climax and ejaculated on her right leg." The woman, he said, "cleaned herself" with her panties, and they eventually walked back to some community tennis courts, where Santana began playing with his father Jesus and a friend, Fernando D'Vincente. Santana told cops that the woman "never once told me to stop or 'No' during our sexual encounter." He has not spoken or seen her since that evening. Santana, accompanied by his lawyer, was interviewed under oath on November 3 by a sheriff's investigator. That session, conducted in Spanish, was videotaped.

The woman told investigators a markedly different story, alleging that Santana assaulted her despite her saying, "please, no," and "please no, not like this, not here, please no."

She said that the athlete pulled her skirt and panties off, removed his shorts, and penetrated her. "Johan didn't say a word, he only whispered for me to 'shush,'" the woman told Detective Osvaldo Gamez of the sheriff's Special Victims Unit. The woman said that Santana kept her under control by tightly gripping her arms and "pulling my hair towards him." She added, "I told Johan to stop on numerous occasions. Johan said he was going to 'cum' and then removed his penis from inside of me and ejaculated on my right leg." After she got dressed, the woman told cops, "Johan told me 'this is crazy' and 'I'm sorry.'"

The day after the encounter, the woman reported being assaulted to the Lee County Sheriff's Office and underwent a medical examination at a local Rape Crisis Center. On October 29, deputies executed a search warrant at Santana's Terabella Way home, where they seized his cell phone and the clothing he had worn during the October 27 encounter. They also did a DNA swab of Santana's mouth. Subsequent lab tests "deemed a positive match" between Santana and DNA recovered from the alleged victim's "sexual assault kit and underwear."

A forensic examination of a computer taken from the woman's home confirmed her claim that she had gone on the Internet to research "information regarding evidence preservation, acquaintance rape and Johan Santana." The review, however, could not pinpoint when these online searched were performed.

After "lengthy discussions" with sheriff's investigators, prosecutor Francine Donnorummo in mid-January declined to prosecute Santana due to "not enough evidence to prove lack of consent," according to the report. That decision was relayed by Gamez to John Platts, a lawyer representing the woman. It is unclear whether Platts, who did not return a TSG message, has been pursuing civil remedies against Santana.

For his part, the baseball star yesterday declined to answer questions from beat reporters about the incident. Reading a brief statement, Santana said, "police investigated those claims last year and I was not charged with anything, and the case is closed." (7 pages)