Springfield man charged with rape after Craigslist encounter
A Springfield man is accused of rape after police say he attacked a woman in her home during a Craigslist encounter gone wrong.
Charles E. Shull, 43, was charged with first degree rape and felony sodomy Sunday in connection with an incident in December of last year.
According to the probable cause statement, a woman responded to a Craigslist ad placed by Shull, in the “casual encounters” section of the website. The woman told police she picked up Shull, who reportedly called himself “Chuck,” at a Springfield gas station, then the two returned to her residence.
When they did, she said she had second thoughts about the encounter after Shull pulled out what she identified as drug paraphernalia. The woman told police that Shull refused to leave and followed her into her house from the garage.
That’s when the woman said Shull grabbed her hair from behind, pulled her over to her couch, and performed a sex act on her, according to the documents.
According to the probable cause statement, when she did not cooperate, the woman said Shull dragged her into her bedroom by her hair while she tried to crawl away. Then she said she lost consciousness after he choked her and told her they were going to “try again.”
She said when she woke up the next morning, she was missing her cell phone, and her car was outside with the key broken in the ignition. Officers said they found a pool of blood on her mattress, and the woman was brought to a local hospital for treatment. Tests reportedly found methamphetamine and marijuana in her system.
According to police, Shull initially denied knowledge of the incident, then said the sex had been consensual and the woman did not have any injuries when they had sex.
Shull has felony convictions for assault, tampering and possession of a controlled substance, and a misdemeanor conviction for domestic assault in the third degree. Shull was out on bond at the time of the alleged rape in a case in which he was charged with second degree domestic assault.