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Sexual assault suspect pleads not guilty

An Atherton man charged with assaulting a teen girl he met on the Internet pleaded not guilty in San Mateo County Superior Court Wednesday.

Eric Robert Gray, 25, is charged with two counts of oral copulation, as well as sexual battery and penetration with a foreign object for allegedly forcibly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl he met online.

The prosecution alleges that Gray, who has a 2001 conviction for unlawful intercourse with a minor, met the girl in a chat room and communicated with her online for three months. On Dec. 7, Gray allegedly picked the girl up in Sunnyvale and brought her to his Atherton home to watch a movie. The defendant attempted to fondle the victim and, when she resisted, used force to sexually assault her, according to the prosecution.

Gray then allegedly drove the victim home. The victim told her friends of the alleged assault and the friends told the police, the San Mateo County district attorney's office reports.

Gray appeared in Superior Court Commissioner Joseph Gruber's courtroom with his recently retained defense attorney Kathryn Fontaine. He returns to court for a preliminary hearing on Feb. 23 at 2 p.m.

— Bay City News Service

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