Nick Carter sued for sexual assault by second accuser
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Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images Nick Carter
Nick Carter is again being sued for sexual assault.
Following Shannon Ruth's lawsuit from December accusing the Backstreet Boys member of rape in 2001, Melissa Schuman has filed a lawsuit this week accusing Carter of sexually assaulting her in 2003. Schuman's public accusations against Carter stem back to 2017, and in 2018 Los Angeles prosecutors declined to pursue criminal charges since the statute of limitations had expired. Now, Schuman is pursuing legal action under the 2022 California law that widened the statute of limitations on sexual assault cases. Carter has long denied the charges and maintained his innocence.
Schuman was a member of the '90s girl group Dream, and met Carter while filming the teen horror film The Hollow in 2003. According to the complaint obtained by EW, Carter invited Schuman over to his Santa Monica apartment after a day of shooting, whereupon he supplied her with alcohol and possibly the date rape drug flunitrazepam. Schuman alleges that Carter took advantage of her inebriation to perform oral sex on her against her will, demand that she reciprocate, and then vaginally penetrate her despite her protests that she was a conservative Christian who wanted to save herself for marriage.
"Defendant Carter satisfied his prurient desires, which includes the sexual assault of a virgin," the lawsuit alleges. "As a result of Defendant Carter vaginally penetrating Plaintiff, Defendant Carter infected Plaintiff with the human papillomavirus, commonly known as HPV." Ruth's lawsuit from December also accuses Carter of infecting her with HPV.
Carter vehemently denies these accusations, and in fact filed his own countersuit against both Ruth and Schuman in Nevada in February, accusing them of conspiring to "defame and villify" him.
Matt Baron/Shutterstock Melissa Schuman in 2016
"Melissa Schuman has been peddling this tale for many years, but her allegation was false when she first made it back in 2017 — and it still is," Carter's attorney, Liane K. Wakayama, told EW in a statement. "A judge in Nevada recently ruled, after reviewing the extensive evidence we laid out, that there are strong grounds for Nick Carter to proceed with his lawsuit against Ms. Schuman for plotting to damage, defame and extort Nick, his associates, his friends and his family."
Carter's legal team accuses Schuman of initiating her complaint in response to his own suit, while Schuman's lawsuit alleges that Carter knew it was coming and brought his case "in anticipation of this lawsuit and with the intent to intimidate" Schuman. Her complaint also claims that she was intimidated into deleting a 2017 blog post detailing the allegations by "a highly strategized cyber-stalking and harassment campaign" coordinated by "a web of individuals associated with" Carter.
"The attack by Nick Carter on Melissa is intolerable. He is a coward…and a dangerous one," Schuman's attorney, Jeff Anderson, said in a statement. "Melissa's case describes how powerful, celebrated individuals can weaponize their fan base to intimidate and harass the survivors of their crimes. Finally, we have an opportunity now to prove that there are legal consequences to these crimes."
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