Man arrested for allegedly drugging, raping woman

A Kalispell man has been arrested and accused of drugging and raping a 20-year-old woman.

Damien Carey Dinelli, 34, has been charged with felony sexual intercourse without consent. He was booked in the Flathead County Detention Center on Thursday.

According to court documents, Dinelli knew the woman and the two had met in the early morning of July 26. She told a Flathead County Sheriff’s deputy that she had rejected previous “advances” from Dinelli.

She said that they went to a grocery store and she bought a sports drink. She asked Dinelli to hold it while she went to the bathroom.

She later drank the beverage and “remembered feeling funny,” according to court documents.

The next thing she remembered, she awoke naked in an abandoned trailer in Evergreen, the court document says. She didn’t have her cell phone. She believed that she had been drugged.

The woman walked home and had a friend drive her to the Kalispell Regional Medical Center, where a sexual assault examination was performed.

According to court documents, the woman said she had not taken drugs or alcohol that night. The nurse noted “physical indications” of sexual assault.

Court records show that Dinelli is a registered sexual offender in Washington state. He is also awaiting sentencing in Flathead County for a current case for failing to register as a sexual or violent offender. He failed to alert probation officers of an address change.

A DNA swab has been ordered on Dinelli, according to court records. He could face as much as 100 years or life in prison if convicted.

Dinelli is being held in the detention center on $100,000 bail. He is set to be arraigned in Flathead County District Court on Aug. 20.