D.A.: More time needed to review Forestville rape allegations

Prosecutors asked for a three-week delay Monday before they decide whether to drop charges against a Guerneville man who was arrested on suspicion of rape but released from jail when evidence emerged pointing to his innocence.

David Kocalis, 24, had hoped to be cleared Monday but said he understood the District Attorney’s Office needs to thoroughly review the case.

“It’s a ridiculous situation,” he said outside the courtroom. “I spent 17 days (in jail) for something I didn’t do.”

Kocalis was arrested Aug. 31 one day after an 18-year-old woman told Sonoma County sheriff’s detectives she had been raped by a masked man with a knife at El Molino High School. She initially told detectives she didn’t know the man, but said he had a distinctive tattoo.

Detectives arrested Kocalis, based on the tattoo description and that he was driving a vehicle matching one seen in school surveillance tapes from the same night.

Prosecutors filed a six-count complaint against Kocalis on Sept. 3, including kidnapping to commit rape, which itself is punishable by life in prison.

The woman later told detectives she knew Kocalis. Investigators found cellphone records connecting the two, including a text message from the woman inviting him for sex, according to Kocalis’ attorney, Evan Zelig. The attorney has said the woman made up the story because she missed her curfew and because Kocalis had refused to lend her $20.

Kocalis and the woman had met at the school that night and started their tryst started inside a borrowed Porsche SUV he was driving, but then moved to a spot near the tennis courts because the car alarm was sounding, the defense attorney said.

On Sept. 18, a judge released Kocalis from jail after prosecutor Brian Staebell announced in court that investigators found evidence that may clear him of the assault.

Investigators with the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office and District Attorney’s Office are still combing through a trove of cellphone data in an effort to sort out what took place between the two, Staebell said by phone after Monday’s hearing.

“At this stage, we are still reviewing the evidence to make a determination as to whether charges are appropriately filed in this case,” Staebell said.

Superior Court Judge Robert LaForge agreed to Staebell’s request to delay the hearing until Oct. 27.

Staebell said that a victim’s advocate was working with the woman, as were staff with Verity, the Santa Rosa-based rape crisis, trauma and healing center.

Kocalis on Monday said he was glad the incident was almost behind him.

“I feel bad for her,” he said.

Staff Writer Julie Johnson contributed to this report. You can reach Staff Writer Randi Rossmann at 521-5412.

or randi.rossmann@pressdemocrat.com.