Search warrant becomes center of debate over criminal probe into Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend

A search warrant carried out earlier this year against a Newport Beach surgeon and his girlfriend, both of whom are accused of drugging and raping several women, has become the center of a political debate over whether the pair should have been arrested months sooner.

Carried out in January, the warrant and supporting affidavit written by Newport Beach police Detective Marie Gamble details allegations from three women, two of whom Grant William Robicheaux and Cerissa Laura Riley have since been charged with sexually assaulting.

The first alleged incident detailed in the warrant occurred on April 12, 2016, when a woman told investigators that Robicheaux and Riley had provided her with drugs and sexually assaulted her.

The second woman told detectives that on Oct. 2, 2016 she blacked out at a bar and woke up to find a man she didn’t know, later identified as Robicheaux, on top of her, hitting her in the face. The third woman also told detectives that the couple had drugged and raped her, but police have not filed criminal charges in relation to those allegations.

In offering justification for the warrant, Gamble wrote that Robicheaux and Riley had been described as “working together as a ‘team’ or having a routine when engaging the victims in sexual activities.” The detective also wrote that the couple’s alleged behavior was “consistent with similar patterns of a high-risk sexual predator.”

During a bail review hearing last week, Orange County Superior Court Judge Greg Jones, who signed off on the search warrant, asked prosecutors why they waited until September to arrest and charge the couple.

“If there’s probable cause to search, then there’s probable cause to arrest,” Jones said.

Orange County Supervisor Todd Spitzer, who is running to unseat District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, has accused the county’s top prosecutor of putting women at risk by waiting to make an arrest. Rackauckas has defended his office’s actions, saying that if prosecutors moved too quickly and without the needed evidence, the pair could have gotten the charges quickly thrown out.