Man arrested for allegedly raping and impregnating Blackfoot woman - East Idaho News
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Man arrested for allegedly raping and impregnating Blackfoot woman

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IDAHO FALLS — A local man has been accused of raping a Blackfoot woman, which resulted in her getting pregnant.

Rocky Leon Joe, 50, was arrested and booked into the Bonneville County Jail on Feb. 7 on felony rape charges. The charge stems from an incident in October 2016 when the victim says she was raped while she was drunk.

According to court documents, the victim told police she had been staying at the Crisis Center, but had gotten drunk and went out for lunch at a local soup kitchen. That’s when she met Joe.

The victim said after she and Joe talked for a while, she told him she had nowhere to go. Learning this, Joe told her she could come stay with him.

When they arrived at Joe’s home the victim asked for some medicine for a headache. She said she believes Joe tried giving her a sleeping pill, which she did not take. Shortly after the victim passed out due to being drunk. When the woman awoke, she said, Joe was raping her. She also reported passing out several more times and briefly waking up twice to him still raping her, according to the police incident report.

After she woke up fully, the victim reportedly left Joe’s home and called her ex-boyfriend to ask for some money and for a ride. By the time the ex-boyfriend showed up and gave her some money, she had been drinking because of what allegedly happened to her the night before. The ex-boyfriend then drove the victim back to Joe’s home because, the victim said, “she had nowhere else to go,” according to court documents.

The victim said when she arrived back at Joe’s home, she told him to take her to his mother’s house and even threatened to call his parole officer if he didn’t.

At Joe’s mother’s house, the victim met Joe’s sister. The victim told Joe’s sister what had allegedly happened, although according to documents, the sister told police she only remembered being told Joe had done something “inappropriate” to the victim. Joe’s sister told police the victim told her that she had been on drugs that night and was afraid nobody would believe her.

The victim did not report the incident to police until 10 weeks after it allegedly occurred. According to documents she took so long to report the incident because she had a felony arrest warrant and didn’t want to be arrested. When the crime was finally reported, the victim was in Bingham County Jail for failure to appear for arraignment on a misdemeanor theft charge. That charge was later dismissed.

At that time, the victim told police that she was pregnant but didn’t know for sure if the baby was Joe’s or her ex-boyfriend’s. According to the incident report, police decided to wait until a paternity test could be completed after the birth of the child in 2017 before deciding if charges would be pursued.

The victim later gave birth to a baby. The paternity test came back as a positive match for Joe, which led to his arrest.

When asked by police about the incident, Joe said the victim had stayed the night, but she just passed out. He kicked her out the next day because he woke up to her walking around his house. He said he discovered that she stole a variety of items from his home. He denied having any sexual relations with her.

Joe is scheduled to appear in court on Feb. 23 for a preliminary hearing.

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