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A Nebraska groom was arrested on the eve of his nuptials for allegedly raping a woman who was helping with wedding preparations.
Tyler Weber, 33, denied the alleged victim’s claims initially, but DNA evidence connecting him to the crime led to him being charged with first-degree sexual assault and first-degree false imprisonment, local outlet WOWT reported.
The 19-year-old accuser was part of a small group — including her own husband — who gathered at Weber’s home in May to finalize details the night before the ceremony was to commence.
The groom repeatedly grabbed her hand while her husband wasn’t looking, she told Scotts Bluff County Sheriffs.
When the group thinned out, she decided she was too intoxicated to go home and asked to borrow some clothes to spend the night, according to the report.
She said Weber followed her as she went upstairs to change, grabbed her wrist and pinned her against the stairs before forcing her onto a couch and performing “oral and manual sexual acts on her,” the outlet writes.
She said she told him “No!” several times, and that he even repeatedly stopped himself mid-act to say that he shouldn’t be doing this because he was getting married the next day.
Afterwards she told cops she tried to text her husband, “Bad things were happening,” as Weber went to the bathroom before joining her on the couch.
She fell asleep, and woke up two hours later when Weber’s enraged betrothed came downstairs and started yelling at the accuser when she saw her in her groom’s arms.
She got up to leave, and claimed Weber grabbed her arm multiple times begging her “not to ever tell anyone what happened.”
After driving home, she told her husband what had happened, as well as her dad, who said she should see a doctor.
A rape exam was performed, and Weber’s DNA was collected in June after a warrant was issued.
The swab collected from the victim included two distinct DNA profiles, which couldn’t rule out Weber as a suspect. A more comprehensive DNA test was ordered, which the county sheriff’s office said matched the suspect definitively.
The victim also said Weber bit her thigh during the alleged assault, which was corroborated by a dime-size bruise in the area spotted during her medical exam.
Weber allowed investigators to record his arms and torso, finding no marks on him, which he later attempted to use as evidence that the assault never took place.
Weber is being held at Scotts Bluff County Jail on $215,000 bond and is due back in court Aug. 15.
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