Copperfield's Accuser Accused

JANUARY 13--A two-year FBI probe into a Seattle woman's claim that she was raped by David Copperfield was closed this week, shortly after federal investigators learned that the alleged victim is being investigated for prostitution and lying to cops about a sexual assault that purportedly occurred last month, police records show.

Along with hastening the end of the bureau's probe of Copperfield, the 22-year-old woman's current criminal entanglement also appears to jeopardize a lurid civil suit she filed last July against the 53-year-old magician. The accuser, a former Miss Washington pageant contestant who now works as a waitress at a Bellevue restaurant, claims that Copperfield repeatedly sexually assaulted her during a 2007 visit to the performer's private Bahamian island (Copperfield has vigorously denied her charges, which he has called a blatant shakedown attempt).

As seen here, last month Bellevue police concluded that evidence showed the woman lied to investigators when she claimed to have been sexually attacked by a male acquaintance she accompanied to a hotel after a night of partying. Additionally, investigators concluded that there was sufficient evidence to support a prostitution count against her.

According to police reports, Sean Loomis, a 31-year-old sales manager, told investigators that he engaged in mutual oral sex with the woman in a $370-a-night Bellevue hotel room on December 2. At one point, he told cops, the woman said to him, "put $2,000 in my purse and you can have it all." Loomis said that when he balked at paying for sex, the woman began to cry. Leaving her panties and tights behind, she got dressed, left the room, and headed for the lobby. There, she told hotel employees that she had been sexually assaulted, a claim the woman would repeat in a 911 call.

While being transported to a hospital (where a sexual assault kit was done), the woman remarked to a female cop that "she could not believe this was happening to her again." Explaining that she had "an open rape investigation with the FBI," the accuser said that she was assaulted "by a celebrity in the Bahamas approximately 2 years ago," adding that the prior case "has been in the works for 2 years and was much more important."

Within days, the woman had decided not to pursue charges against Loomis, whose name (and that of the woman) has been redacted from police reports. Her "main concern," a Bellevue Police Department detective reported, was "not wanting this incident to impact" the Copperfield case. She was worried that lawyers "for the other side who are always snooping around" might learn of the hotel incident. The woman was so determined to stymie the Bellevue police probe that she refused to authorize the release of her rape kit and medical treatment records.

Undaunted, cops secured a search warrant for the material. A subsequent probable cause filing (and other police documents) concluded that the woman's claims were false, and directly contradicted by various witnesses, security camera footage, and a detailed statement provided by Loomis. Since a King County Prosecutor's Office examination of the matter found no felonies had been committed by the woman, the Bellevue City Attorney's Office--which prosecutes misdemeanors--is now expected to review the case. (8 pages)