Rape Charges Dropped Against Downers Grove Native Who Took Plea Deal

A Downers Grove man accused in two separate Indiana rape cases has been sentenced to one year of probation after he accepted a plea deal from prosecutors.

John Enochs, a 22-year-old former Indiana University business student, spent one day in jail, according to Fox 59.

Enochs pleaded guilty to a charge of battery with moderate bodily injury, a Class A misdemeanor, and the two rape charges against him were dismissed.

• See also: Downers Grove Native Charged With Two Counts of Rape in Indiana

Prosecutors considered that the case involved two unrelated accusations two years apart in their initial decision to charge Enochs with two counts of rape, according to a statement from the Monroe County Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

But the law stipulates each of the two charges would go before separate juries, and each jury would not know there were two rape charges against Enochs.

"After the case was filed, evidence continued to be developed that led us to the conclusion that neither case, standing alone, presented sufficient evidence to prove rape," according to prosecuting attorney's office.

The statement also pointed out Enochs pleaded guilty to battery as a Level 6 felony, but the court decided to enter it as a misdemeanor.

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One of the rape charges was filed after a woman told police she blacked out April 11, 2015, at a Delta Tau Delta fraternity party, and she woke up while a stranger was sexually assaulting her, the Indiana Daily Student reported. She said the person didn't stop when she told him "No."

A surveillance video showed Enochs, a Delta Tau Delta member, leading the woman down a hall and into a room in the fraternity house, and the woman identified him in a photo line up.

According to the prosecuting attorney's office, video of the woman before and after she said the assault took place "does not support the assertion of a forcible rape," and prosecutors couldn't prove Enochs injured her.

The other rape charge was filed after an Oct. 2013 report, when a woman said she was raped at her Delta Zetasorority house. She said she and Enochs were drinking with friends before a dance, and she didn't remember about an hour of time at the house, the Indiana Daily Student reported.

Witnesses told police they saw Enochs and the woman having sex, but according to the prosecuting attorney's office, the witnesses couldn't remember details because of alcohol and how much time had passed.

The investigation into the 2013 incident wasn't pursued until the woman involved heard about the 2015 incident. Her decision to prosecute two years after the event "severely hindered the investigation," the prosecuting attorney's office reported.

"There were also photographs that contradicted the assertion that the complaining witness was incapable of engaging in consensual activity shortly before the alleged assault," the statement said. "This is important because the complaint was that she was 'unaware' that the sex was occurring due to her consumption of alcohol."

Enochs was arrested Sept. 11, 2015, after a judge issued an order to surrender Sept. 9. He was released the day he turned himself in after paying a surety bond of $20,000 and a cash bond of $500, according to the Monroe County case summary.