By Alex Riggins
The Times-News
WENDELL, Idaho — Prosecutors have dropped rape charges against a former Gooding County emergency medical technician, who was accused of twice raping a friend and coworker after she asked him to donate his sperm so she could be artificially inseminated. He was also accused of masturbating in front of her at EMT headquarters and kicking her in the ribs.
Dwayne S. Woodbridge, 37, of Wendell was charged in November with two felony counts of rape, one felony count of domestic battery with traumatic injury and one misdemeanor count of indecent exposure.
On Tuesday, prosecutors dismissed the rape charges and reduced the felony domestic battery charge to a misdemeanor. Woodbridge now faces misdemeanor counts of domestic violence and indecent exposure.
Gooding County Deputy Prosecutor Trevor Misseldine did not give an exact reason for dismissing the charges but referenced a rule saying his office must “refrain from prosecuting a charge that the prosecutor knows is not supported by probable cause.
“That duty is ongoing through every phase of the case,” Misseldine wrote in an email Wednesday. “Therefore, on (Monday) I moved to dismiss the two counts of rape on the record.”
New evidence came to light after Woodbridge was charged, defense attorney Steven McRae said.
“Our understanding of the dismissal is because the alleged victim was not found to be a credible witness due to additional facts that have been revealed since the initial allegations,” McRae said Wednesday.
Woodbridge pleaded not guilty to the charges at a Jan. 12 hearing.
“My client is relieved that the position he’s taken all along is proving to be true,” McRae said.
Within two weeks of the charges being filed, Woodbridge was no longer an employee of the Gooding County EMS, the organization’s director said at the time. Woodbridge was still listed as a fire captain on the Wendell Fire Department’s website last Dec. 2.
“He’s no longer employed in Gooding County whatsoever,” McRae said Wednesday, but he declined to comment on whether that was related to the allegations against his client.
According to court documents, Woodbridge is accused of exposing his genitals to a woman last October in Gooding County Ambulance headquarters and kicking her on Oct. 30.
Deputies said Woodbridge’s shoe print “looked to be consistent with the bruise on the victim’s rib area,” court documents said. Investigators also taped a phone conversation between Woodbridge and the woman in which he admitted to masturbating in front of her and promised never to do it again.
The Gooding County Sheriff’s Office began investigating the case in November after EMS Assistant Director Jon Kepler notified investigators that Woodbridge had raped an employee at the EMS headquarters, court records said.
The woman told investigators and testified in a preliminary hearing Dec. 17 that Woodbridge was a close friend in 2012 when she asked him to donate sperm to artificially inseminate her. She testified that a week later, he became violent and raped her while she was jogging. She also said Woodbridge attacked her in 2013 in her home, and that she became pregnant after both attacks. Woodbridge told investigators that both pregnancies were the result of artificial insemination.
Woodbridge is next due in court April 11 for a status hearing on the two misdemeanor charges.
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