Update: South Bay homeless man released after rape arrest involving woman who aided him

This story has been updated.

SAN MARTIN — A man arrested and accused of raping a woman who visited his makeshift tent to give him food and supplies has been released from jail after prosecutors declined to charge him, authorities said.

Sharwian Bobian, 43, a homeless man arrested Wednesday night at his encampment across from the San Martin Transfer Station on Llagas Avenue, was no longer in custody Thursday night, a few hours after the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office announced his arrest.

The District Attorney’s Office said Friday the case is still open, however.

“The case remains under investigation. If anyone has further information, please contact the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s (Office),” reads a statement from the DA’s office. The office did not comment further.

The woman who reported the sexual assault is adamant that she was raped. Similarly, the Sheriff’s Office reaffirmed its confidence in the arrest, but declined comment on the charging decision.

Sheriff’s deputies were called about 6:30 p.m. to a home in southern Santa Clara County and took a report from the woman, who said she was raped within the previous hour at the suspect’s tent.

The victim told deputies she visited Bobian at his makeshift shelter — a tent constructed from tarps and shopping carts — near the San Martin Transfer Station to give him food and toiletries. She and her family had done so multiple times in the past, including one visit where they gave him a heater to help withstand colder weather, the Sheriff’s Office said.

At some point during the Wednesday visit, the woman said Bobian raped her. Deputies went to Bobian’s shelter the same evening and arrested him on suspicion of sexual assault and false imprisonment crimes, the Sheriff’s Office said. He was freed about 24 hours later.

Anyone with information about the case can contact the Sheriff’s Office’s Sexual Assault Investigative Unit at 408-808-4500.

Update: January 4, 2019 This story has been updated to reflect that the suspect was released after the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office declined to charge him.

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