Men Can Be Sexually Assaulted, Too, North Carolina Police Say

FAYETTEVILLE, NC — A woman in North Carolina is accused of assaulting a cable television technician and forcing him to perform two sex acts, dispelling the notion that men can’t be victims of sexual assault, a Fayetteville police spokesman said.

Mildred Newsome, 47, of Fayetteville, was arrested Saturday and charged with two counts of second-degree forced sex offense and one count of misdemeanor sexual battery in connection with an April 20 incident at Newsome’s home.

Fayetteville police spokesman Sgt. Shawn Strepay said Newsome’s arrest has fueled a debate on social media that he finds disturbing.

Many people “are under the mindset that a man cannot be sexually assaulted, or he could have done something to stop it,” Stepay told The Charlotte Observer. “That's not true.

“Put yourself in the victim’s shoes. It’s a traumatic experience. … If he happens to be on social media and comes across those comments, it will be more traumatic.”

According to a police warrant, the technician, who is reportedly in his 30s, was waiting on the arrival of equipment needed for the work order when Newsome allegedly placed his hand on her breast and forced him to engage in two sex acts.

Strepay told the Charlotte Observer the victim told Newsome “no” and “attempted to resist these actions, but she continued.”

Strepay said Newsome threatened the technician and said that if he made a report about the alleged sexual assaults, she would say it was him who had assaulted her.

He immediately reported what had happened to his employer, triggering the police investigation and Newsome’s eventual arrest.

Among the comments about the incident that Strepay found objectionable was one that said a man couldn’t have been sexually assaulted unless he was held “at gunpoint.”

Comments like that sparked a sharp rebuke from Shannon Phillips, who saw irony in the fact that many of the people making jokes about the arrest were women.

“Scroll the comments and look at the jokes, the laughing, and the way this is brushed off as nothing,” Phillips posted, according to the Charlotte Observer account. “If this had been the other way around and the male cable guy (had) made unwanted advances/attempted assault to HER, what would your comments be?”

Newsome had posted $10,000 bail by Wednesday afternoon, television station WRAL reported.

Photo via Fayetteville police