Woman told of drugging, rape

The ex-boyfriend of a woman who says she was drugged and raped by Jeffrey Marsalis in 2004 testified yesterday that he urged her to notify police as soon as she described the incident.

Later, an instructor at Drexel University College of Medicine, where Marsalis studied to be an emergency medical technician, testified that Marsalis likely had access to outdated prescription medicine at the university.

Marsalis, 37, is accused of drugging and raping seven women whom he met through an online dating service. His accusers say he masqueraded as an astronaut, CIA agent and medical doctor.

Marsalis' attorney says the alleged victims - the last of whom testified Thursday - have made up the drug and rape charges because they are angry he deceived them about his profession.

Yesterday, Frank Apicella of the Washington suburbs testified in Common Pleas Court that he received a text message from one of Marsalis' accusers in spring 2004 that "mentioned an encounter that included unconsensual sex," and told him that "she was without her wits, unable to stop what was happening."

"I told her she should go to the police. I was concerned for her welfare," said Apicella, who had dated and lived with the woman for about two years before the alleged assault.

Apicella was followed by Joseph Brady, a former bartender at a Center City restaurant where Marsalis took several of the women, and where they allege he may have drugged them.

Brady, who now works in Baltimore, said Marsalis typically had four or five drinks over the course of two to three hours, and that the women typically had "a couple of drinks."

Under cross-examination by Kevin Hextall, one of Marsalis' attorneys, Brady acknowledged that he told police investigators last year that some of Marsalis' female companions may have had four or five drinks.

Brady also said he never saw Marsalis put anything in his companions' drinks when he worked at the Tir Na Nog restaurant, but that his work kept him busy and that he was "not focused" on Marsalis' activities.

The third witness was John Cornele, an instructor in the emergency services program at Drexel University College of Medicine, where Marsalis took courses.

In response to questions from Assistant District Attorney Joseph Khan, Cornele said Marsalis - like other students in the EMT program - "had access to expired medicine" that the university uses for training purposes, but that these did not include controlled substances, such as narcotics.

Medicine that has passed its expiration is presumed to have lost some of its potency, he testified, but larger doses can still be efficacious. Cornele said he had no evidence that Marsalis stole any medicine from the school.

Cornele also testified that about six courses that Marsalis took at Drexel and a community college might have taught some aspects of pharmacology. Marsalis earned a bachelor's degree in emergency medical technician management in 2002.

The final witness was Mark Borowski, who said he was a friend and former neighbor of Marsalis' at a Center City apartment house.

Borowski testified that Marsalis had told him he was a medical doctor and that he had believed him, and that he had edited Marsalis' profile on Match.com, the online dating service where Marsalis met many of his accusers.

Borowski said that Marsalis' original profile, in which he claimed to be a doctor, came off as "arrogant and pompous" and "sounded like an idiot." He said he corrected Marsalis' many misspellings and punctuation errors, and urged him to take out certain offensive passages.

"I made him a little more sensible," said Borowski.

Judge Steven R. Geroff scheduled the next session of the trial for 9 a.m. Tuesday.