Alleged sex assault victim shares story

HOLLAND, Mich. (WOOD) - A former Holland deputy city attorney is accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the 58th District Courthouse who was charged with drunken driving. After the alleged assault, he immediately reduced her criminal charges, the alleged victim claims.

Now, 24 Hour News 8 is releasing new information that the alleged victim shared in conversations.

The 21-year-old Zeeland woman went before a judge at 58th District Court in Holland on Tuesday, Nov. 3. She had no attorney and pleaded not guilty.

She was instructed by the judge to wait outside the court to meet with the prosecuting attorney for a pretrial conference, she said.

It was Carl Gabrielse, 30, who called her into a conference room and said: "I'm not here to give you advice. Here's your charge. OWI, operating a vehicle while intoxicated."

Gabrielse worked for Cunningham Dalman, a law firm in Holland contracted to do official Holland city legal work. He has been doing this type of work periodically for the city since 2004 but was fired when the allegations came to light.

He turned himself in and was arraigned Thursday on charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and misconduct in a public office. Both are felonies; the CSC charge carries a maximum prison term of 15 years, and the misconduct charge, five years.

But on Nov. 3, he went on to tell the woman: "I can't lower this (charge). Is there any reason I could think this could be reduced?"

She responded: "I can't afford to lose my license."

Gabrielse said: "Yeah, but what makes you think it should be reduced? ... Do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Yeah I know," she said.

Responded Gabrielse: "Do we need to talk about this in a separate room?"

The woman, whose blood-alcohol level was a .24 according to The Grand Rapids Press, said yes, and told 24 Hour News 8 she assumed they would be heading into a room with a judge.

Then, she says, Gabrielse told her to wait at the end of the hall and nudged for her to walk into a jury room. He shut the door behind them and opened the bathroom door of the jury room.

Next, he started unbuttoning her shirt. She asked, "what's going on?"

He responded: "This means the charge is going to be dropped to impaired driving," the victim told 24 Hour News 8. "We're going all the way."

Gabrielse took the woman's clothes off, then undressed himself and raped her, she claims.

Afterward, he said again: "The city is going to reduce the charge to impaired while driving."

Next, he scratched out the original charge and wrote in the lesser charge, signed the paper and had her sign it, too, the alleged victim said.

He instructed the woman: "If anyone asks why you're here, tell them you're on a tour with your school and you're going to the bathroom."

The woman left the courthouse and went to a counselor who encouraged her to call police.

She went to police the next day and told her story. They advised her, she says, to get a rape test kit exam. The following day, police tapped her phone and sent a message to the court to have Gabrielse call her phone, she says.

In that call with Gabrielse, she first asked if she would be required to attend Alcoholics Anonymous classes and counseling. He told her no, she said. Then: "Does anybody know we had sex?"

He responded: "What are you talking about?"

Said the woman: "You probably don't want to talk on the phone."

Gabrielse asked if he should be expecting her, and the alleged victim said yes.

When she hung up the phone, police wired her with a microphone and she went to the courthouse to meet Gabrielse.

"I could barely talk. Then, I got more comfortable," she said of her experience at the courthouse meeting. " I was scared to death, nervous, out of my mind. I was doing it for other people. How many girls go to court for drinking and driving? They are vulnerable. He has power over them."

During the wired conversation at the courthouse, the alleged victim said Gabrielse was making arrangements with her to meet at a hotel.

"I want something a little more mutual, an extended version of what we did," the woman claims he said. "I'm sure we can get a room in town."

They made plans to meet at 11:45 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6, she said, adding that Gabrielse said he would call to tell her which hotel.

He told her he would be the prosecutor at her Dec. 3 court appearance.

On Friday, Gabrielse was fired. The same day, the woman filed a personal protection order against him, alleging sexual assault.

Gabrielse admitted to police he had sex with the woman because she is attractive, according to The Grand Rapids Press, quoting an affidavit for Gabrielse's arrest.

In the affidavit, he denied forcing the woman to have sex.

The Ottawa County Sheriff's Department has searched files for other possible victims but has not found anyone.

The woman hired attorney Joel Baar and is considering a civil lawsuit against Gabrielse.

"The criminal justice system let her down once before, but we have confidence in the Ottawa County sheriff department and the Ottawa County prosecutors office that the criminal justice system will not let her down again," Baar said Thursday.

Gabrielse's attorney, Floyd Farmer, said his client intends to plead not guilty.

Gabrielse refused to speak with media Thursday but is free on bond. He will be back in court in Grand Haven on Tuesday.

As for the woman's drunken driving case, Holland appointed Zeeland city attorney James Donkersloot to take over as the case's prosecutor to avoid any conflict of interest.

No requests have been made by the woman for a reduced charge in exchange for her cooperation in the case, Donkersloot told 24 Hour News 8 on Tuesday. At that time, there had not been any request for a new judge or change of venue.