Opera star David Daniels and his husband have been charged with sexual assault, accused of attacking a Rice University graduate in 2010 after a performance with the Houston Grand Opera.

Daniels, an internationally famous countertenor, 52, and his husband, Scott Walters, 36, a conductor, were arrested Tuesday in Ann Arbor, Mich., where the internationally famous singer is a music professor at the University of Michigan.

The pair was each charged with sexual assault in connection to an incident in which a singer, Sam Schultz, said he was drugged and assaulted by the couple at their temporary apartment in Midtown, according to charging documents filed by the Harris County district attorney's office.

The arrests were first reported Tuesday by Grand Rapids-based MLive. Victor Senties, a spokesman with the Houston Police Department, on Wednesday confirmed the arrests.

Both men are in the Washtenaw County√ Jail in Ann Arbor, Mich., awaiting extradition to Houston. The Washtenaw County Sheriff's Office did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

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Ann Arbor police on Tuesday initially said they knew nothing about the arrests but later declined to comment. Melissa Overton, a spokeswoman for the University of Michigan Police Department, said the university was not involved in the arrests — though they were involved in the investigation, according to court records.

Kim Broekhuizen, a spokeswoman for the University of Michigan, said Daniels has been on leave and off campus since last August. "We will continue to closely monitor this situation as we determine the appropriate next steps," she said.

On Tuesday, Daniels' professional page had been removed from the University of Michigan website. An archived version of the page, maintained by the Internet Archive, touts Daniels' "voice of singular warmth and surpassing beauty."

Houston attorney Matt Hennessy, who represents Daniels and Walters, said Wednesday that the couple are innocent of any wrongdoing.

"Sam Schultz is not a victim," Hennessy said in an emailed statement, referring to the alleged victim. "He never would have gotten this much attention from his singing, and he knows and resents that fact. He waited eight years to complain about adult, consensual sex to ride the #MeToo movement to unearned celebrity."

"We will fight this," Hennessy concluded.

The allegations against Daniels and his husband come against the background of a nationwide reckoning over consent and sexual violence that has brought down those in the arts in Houston and beyond.

Gregory Boyd, former artistic director at the Alley Theater, last year stepped down after more than 20 current and former Alley employees complained to the Chronicle about allegedly abusive behavior by him — especially toward young women.

Daniels, likewise, is a titan of his industry with ties to Houston, having performed with the Houston Grand Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. But Daniels now faces at least two allegations that he used his clout to satisfy his own sexual desires.

The San Francisco Opera in November stated it had removed Daniels from a production after another allegation by a University of Michigan student, the Associated Press reported. The student said in a federal lawsuit filed in Michigan that Daniels had groped him and sent and requested nude photos. Daniels countersued, the New York Times reported.

The University of Michigan last year also investigated allegations that Daniels had used the hookup app Grindr to solicit a man for sex, the Chronicle previously reported.

Then there are these latest charges, which reportedly sprung from a New York Daily News article published last August. In the article, Schultz alleged that as a 23-year-old Rice University graduate he was drugged and violently raped by the couple.

Schultz said Wednesday that a Houston police detective notified him Tuesday of the arrests. Schultz said he had no further comment on the arrests.

The Chronicle does not typically name victims of sexual assault; however, it is identifying Schultz because he has gone public with his allegations.

He also posted a statement that week to his website addressing the 2010 assault, but his remarks did not identify his attackers or say where the assault took place.

"I was raped," the statement read, in part. "Pause and contemplate those three words."

Court documents filed with the Harris County District Clerk outline the charges against the couple, and include information from Houston police and University of Michigan police.

A friend introduced Schultz, who was pursuing a career as a singer, to the couple at a now-closed gay nightclub. Schultz was initially intrigued and excited by Daniels' "celebrity status," according to court records. He was eager to meet Daniels, a man "he was told was a famous singer."

Days later, they invited him to an HGO performance, according to court documents. Schultz was asked backstage and later to a cast party, where Daniels invited him to the Midtown apartment for a night cap.

Schultz was to come alone, according to court records.

When Schultz arrived at Daniel's apartment, he says the couple was making themselves drinks and offered him one. Schultz told investigators he began to feel his judgment was impaired within two minutes after taking a sip of the drink. He then saw that a television was turned on and a porn video was playing.

According to court documents, the couple began removing his clothes and walking him to a bedroom. The last thing he remembers of that night, he told Houston investigators, was Daniels sexually assaulting him.

He woke up the next day at 2 p.m., confused and terrified. He said Daniels reassured him that he was "totally negative" for sexually transmitted diseases.

Schultz said he told another friend about the incident a few days after it happened. He then told his parents, the documents state. He also began to meet with a therapist. Houston investigators said they met with the therapist, who went over the notes from sessions in 2010. They were consistent with details Schultz provided to police in the 2018 investigation, according to court documents.

Police also reviewed health records from Legacy Community Health, where Schultz had sought medical treatment after the alleged rape.

In Michigan, university police spoke with Daniels and Walters, who each said they had sex with Schultz, according to court records. At some point the couple took Ambien, Walters said, and Schultz wanted to take one, too.

Walters also said that Schultz looked like he was "woozy" as his eyes were opening and closing during sex. "We stopped," Walters told university police, "because (Schultz) was a mess, I was a mess, and David was a mess."

HPD's Senties said police received a report in July, a month before Schultz spoke with the media, and the agency's adult sex crime unit conducted an investigation. The men were charged on Tuesday.

Schultz said he initially declined to go public against Daniels immediately after the alleged incident, fearing it would jeopardize his music career as a baritone who has performed with the Houston Grand Opera, the Washington National Opera and at the Aspen Music Festival. He cited the #MeToo movement, aimed at publicly facing down repeat harassers and sexual abusers, for inspiring his decision in August to come forward.

A district attorney's office spokesman said there is no statute of limitations for rape cases in Texas. But the office declined to comment on the specifics of the Houston case.

Perryn Leach, managing director of Houston Grand Opera, said the agency will cooperate fully with law enforcement inquiries.

"When we first heard about this matter in August, it was concerning and still remains so," Leach said Wednesday. "It is very much in opposition to the professional environment we strive to provide."

Michela Garcia, Nicole Hensley, Elena Scott and Todd Ackerman contributed to this report.

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