“Please Stop”: Sex Assault Victim Heard on 911 Call

A San Marcos woman called authorities to report she was put in a chokehold, punched and sexually assaulted as the attack was happening, San Diego County Sheriff's authorities said.

Deputies said the suspect, 27-year-old Jason Edward Stey, left in the middle of his shift  Sunday night at Dogtopia to rape the victim, an employee at Dab's Central Smoke Shop across the street on San Marcos Blvd.

Dab's owner, Matthew Schlemon, said surveillance video shows Stey grabbing the woman from behind and punching her at least 15 times. At one point, the woman's pit bull attacked Stey, but he punched the dog too, the San Diego Sheriff's Department said.

After the initial struggle, Stey got up to lock the shop's door.

"In that split two seconds, like a genius, she grabs the shop phone, calls 911, throws it on the ground, and the dispatcher could hear the struggle," said Schlemon. "She was saying things like 'Please stop.' God only knows what she was saying."

Minutes after the assault, Stey, a San Marcos resident, was arrested outside the smoke shop and booked into jail on seven felony counts, including rape by force, assault with a deadly weapon with force likely to produce great bodily injury, burglary, assault with intent to commit rape, oral copulation with force or fear, sexual penetration of a foreign object and cruelty to an animal.

The woman was taken to the hospital following the incident, but she was sent home Monday.

Sheriff's Lt. Jeffrey Duckworth said he did not know if the victim and suspect knew each other before the incident but did not believe they did.

An arraignment is set for January 7 in Vista. Stey had been expected to be in court Wednesday for an arraignment.

Stey was fired from Dogtopia immediately after the incident. He left his cellphone and backpack behind when he left in the middle of his shift, his co-worker said.

According to his manager, Stey had texted her earlier in the day, asking how he could be promoted.

Court records show he has been arrested at least five times before, and the District Attorney's office says Stey served a prison term in 2011 for assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a concealed dirk/dagger.

The Sheriff's Sexual Assault Unit is investigating.

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