A jury has convicted a Del Mar man of raping a woman he met on the Christian Mingle dating Web site while posing as a devout Christian and raping a second woman who came forward after the publicity about the 2012 incident.
After 10 ½ hours of deliberations, the eight woman four man jury convicted Sean Patrick Banks, 39, June 23 of raping a 22-year-old La Mesa woman, two counts of digital penetration and rape of an intoxicated San Diego woman in a 2009 incident.
Banks, who showed no reaction to the verdicts, faces a maximum sentence of 40 years to life in prison when he is sentenced Sept. 5 by El Cajon Superior Court Judge Daniel Goldstein. He remains in jail on $1 million bail.
An interesting irony is that Christian Mingle will not do same-sex matches for religious reasons and yet they unwittingly matched a sexual predator to naïve Christian women. Even today ChristianMingle.com performs no background checks on its applicants.
Banks joined ChristianMingle.com years ago under the alias of Rylan Butterwood, and if they had performed any check, they would have discovered it was a phony name. It is no safer than any other dating Web site.
“This defendant is a very dangerous serial date rapist,” said the prosecutor, David Williams III, afterwards. “Sean Banks would spend weeks, if not months, grooming these victims, making them believe that he was an honest, trustworthy Christian man.”
The prosecutor said “Christian Mingle was extremely cooperative” with authorities. The business continues to use its slogan, “Find God’s match for you,” in its TV and Internet ads.
The woman testified she felt safe inviting Banks to her home to watch a movie Nov. 21, 2012 because “we always talked about God.” The jury asked to re-hear her testimony before they convicted him.
The circumstances about the 2009 victim are more disturbing because she testified she downed an alcoholic drink with Banks in a restaurant and her next memory was her being raped on a couch in her home.
She could not recall how she got there and was apparently drugged. She testified she met Banks on Match.com.
The jury acquitted Banks of one charge of dissuading a witness from testifying. That count involved another woman on Christian Mingle with whom Banks only talked with on the phone.
Defense attorney Brian White told jurors in his closing argument there was no physical evidence or DNA processed about either rapes. The 2009 victim didn’t call police until hearing about the 2012 victim. The La Mesa woman called police but waited several days after Thanksgiving.
“We’re deeply disappointed,” said defense attorney Brian White afterwards. “It was a ‘he said, she said’ case. The jury has spoken and we need to see the options available,” said White, adding he would consider making a motion for a new trial.
“It’s very difficult to prove you didn’t do something. He’s obviously taken it very hard,” said White.
Banks did not testify, but his tape recorded statement with La Mesa Police was played before the jury. Banks admitted he was present at the woman’s home, but claimed the sex was consensual and he only left when she demanded he leave.
