From www.ajc.com – Tennessee prosecutors have dropped charges against a Snellville man who was accused of kidnapping and raping an Atlanta stripper.

On Thursday the Sevier County, Tenn., district attorneys’ office dismissed the charges against 46-year-old David Joseph Jansen.

On May 26, Violet Esteppe, 24, told deputies she was kidnapped by Jansen while jogging in her Morningside neighborhood. She claimed Jansen tied her up and drove her to a cabin in the Smoky Mountains, where he drugged and raped her, according to a Sevier County Sheriff’s Office report.

Jansen, who was arrested and spent two nights in jail, said the trip was part of a bondage fantasy.

Chief Assistant District Attorney Steve Hawkins said prosecutors do not know what really happened, but do not plan to charge the woman.

“Who knows what’s in someone’s mind. We have no way to tell what happened based on everything,” said Hawkins, a lawyer for 35 years.

Esteppe, a licensed adult entertainer in Atlanta, had previously been convicted of filing false reports in Cherokee and Fannin counties. The woman’s mother, Karin Tye-Carter, also said Esteppe, who also goes by Cherrisha Johnson, is a “pathological liar.”

“The credibility of the alleged victim is in doubt and based upon all the evidence, we could not obtain a conviction against Mr. Jansen nor would we try,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement. “As district attorneys, our job is to seek justice, not convictions. Justice requires us to dismiss these charges due to the victim’s credibility and other evidence.”

Donald A. Bosch, Jansen’s attorney, said his client is still debating whether to take civil action against Esteppe.

“From the onset, these were not true allegations,” Bosch said Thursday. “This was a consensual relationship and encounter. The assertions of Violet Esteppe that she was kidnapped and raped are malicious and untrue.”

Jansen’s first met Esteppe at Atlanta strip club Tattletale’s, where she worked as a dancer. The two later developed a relationship and planned the trip to Tennessee together, Bosch said.

That relationship has since ended — the two have not spoken since his arrest, Bosch said.

Bosch said his client did not want to speak with reporters nor release details about what happened the night of the alleged attack.

Esteppe did not return phone calls. Her lawyer, Alan Begner, said his client currently has no plans to take civil action.

“As to my client, she has not recanted her story. But we do not to intend to pressure the state of Tennessee to proceed,” Begner said. “We’re going to try and get her back to a normal life.”

Begner declined to talk about what happened that night.

Hawkins said he discussed the district attorney’s decision with the woman on Thursday. “She insists that her allegations are true,” he added.

Deputies arrested Jansen after being contacted by pizza deliveryman Chris Turner. Turner said Esteppe showed him her bound hands and silently pleaded for him to call 911.

The sheriff’s office agrees with the decision to dismiss the case, Hawkins said.

A polygraph administered by a retired FBI agent also showed Jansen was truthful when he told investigators the two engaged in consensual sex, according to court documents.

Tye-Carter said her daughter has a history of trouble with the law, including serving time in juvenile detention facilities for setting fire to an Early County church and her uncle’s Henry County home. Doctors also diagnosed her with psychological problems, Tye-Carter said.

Jansen’s lawyer said Esteppe’s lies have resulted in Jansen’s wife filing for divorce, him being placed on leave from his job as a software engineer and his two children shunning their father.

“It’s been devastating to him personally and his reputation,” Bosch said. “He is trying to regain some normality in his life and hopes to be able to move on from this.”

Stony Brook Chalets owner Pam Hill, who rented the cabin to Jansen, said Thursday that she was not surprised the charges were dropped. Jansen had reserved the cabin ahead of time and used his own credit card to pay for it while Esteppe waited in the car.

“It was a love affair vacation where she changed her mind. He thought it would be a magnificent four days and it turned out to be the biggest nightmare of his life,” Hill said. “People still joke with me to be careful who I rent to, but really they just talk about what a hoax it all was.”