The case against the third and last defendent in an alleged 2007 alleged rape of a woman in Kent has been dropped.
The Portage County Prosecutor’s Office filed a motion on June 2 to end the prosecution of Michael D. Lavender Jr., 40, of Colorado, on a single count of first-degree felony rape in a grand jury indictment, citing the unavailability of the alleged victim.
Lavender, representing himself, filed a motion Tuesday to dismiss the case, with the court responding that because the prosecutor’s motion had been granted, the motion is “moot.”
Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci said Wednesday the woman is now living in another state and did not want to return to Ohio and become involved in the case.
According to Colorado Department of Corrections online records, Lavender is currently serving a three-year prison sentence following a conviction on an unidentified charge or charges.
Kent police said the then 20-year-old woman reported in September 2007 that when she woke up in the morning, she believed she had been sexually assaulted during a party at a Kent apartment the night before. She did not clearly remember what happened, police said.
The woman went to a hospital, police said, and evidence was collected during a sexual assault examination, but suspects remained unuidentified for years.
However, evidence including DNA and matches were found in the Combined DNA Index System, or CODIS, a national database of DNA, in 2018 and 2020. Additional evidence was still needed and it took time to interview the woman, witnesses and suspects, many of whom were no longer in the area.
A grand jury indicted Lavender, Jason M. Horvath, 37, of Bedford, and Armel M. Hardy, 38, of Kent, on the rape charge in January 2022 and warrants were issued for their arrest. Hardy was arrested in May and Horvath in July 2022. It was previously reported that Lavender’s whereabouts were unknown, but Vigluicci said the prosecutor’s office learned of his imprisonment in Colorado in February 2022.
In a plea deal, Hardy and Horvath previously pleaded guilty to fourth-degree felony aggravated assault. Hardy was sentenced to 30 days in the Portage County Jail and three years of probation and Horvath was sentenced to one-year of probation.
Vigluicci said at the time Horvath was sentenced in January that the woman was in agreement with the plea deal. Vigluicci said the amount of time since the incident would also have complicated the rape prosecution.
Attorneys for Horvath and Hardy said the two men have lived law-abiding lives, except for an operating a vehicle under the influence conviction for Horvath in 2019, and are unlikely to commit future offenses.
Both men said they engaged in sexual conduct with the woman, but believed at the time that it was consensual.