Diabetic Man Convicted of Using Insulin as Date Rape Drug

Frederick Lawrence Allen

Diabetic Frederick Lawrence Allen, 31, of Boulder, Colorado, has been convicted of, insidiously enough, dosing a CU-Boulder student with his insulin and then raping her. He is set to be sentenced in April.

Allen, he told investigators, conveniently enough, that he needs his insulin and always has it with him. At the trial his lawyer argued unsuccessfully that the victim had probably just had too much to drink on an empty stomach.

According to the indictment (see below), Allen went to a bar on February 22, 2011, where he met the victim. They left together in the early hours of February 23, after the bar closed. The two went back to her nearby apartment, waking her roommate on entering. The roommate went back to sleep, got up and went about her day as usual, returning to the apartment around 1 p.m. to hear the victim in her locked bedroom breathing strangely, “Wheezy,” was how she described it for investigators.

The roommate took a nap, left again, returned around 10 p.m., this time finding the victim’s door unlocked she knocked. When there was no response she entered and found the room in disarray, with a picture knocked off the wall, and the victim face-down, naked and positioned diagonally with her legs off the bed. She was covered by a single sheet or blanket; the rest of the bedding was gone. She described the victim as sweaty, possibly having vomited, “eyes rolling to the back, opening and closing. When open, however, the eyes were totally unfocused. [victim] did not respond to Ms. [redacted] questions.” The roommate called 911.

On arrival at the hospital the victim was described by doctors as catatonic and rigid. She had dangerously low blood sugar probably caused by intravenous or subcutaneous insulin injection and had suffered encephalopathy. In other words, it affected her brain causing “serious bodily injury,” according to the indictment. Whether there was any permanent brain damage to the victim is not known. A physical examination revealed that she had also been sexually assaulted.

Police tracked down Allen, who had been seen with the victim at the bar. He admitted to having had sex with the victim until she got sick. He said he took the sheets intending to clean them but opted instead to toss them into the first dumpster he came across. He denied ever administering insulin to the victim. The jury did not believe him. Allen was convicted of: sexual assault on a person incapable of appraising the nature of their conduct while armed with a deadly weapon; sexual assault on a person incapable of appraising the nature of their conduct causing serious bodily injury; sexual assault on a physically helpless victim causing serious bodily injury; two counts of second-degree assault and tampering with evidence.

Allen has received five other felony convictions over the last 12 years and is scheduled to be sentenced in April.

Feature article: Andrew Luster

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