A state House candidate in South Dakota was arrested on a rape charge just days after he lost his race against the incumbent — his mother.
Bud Marty May, 37, was arrested in Box Elder around 4 a.m. Sunday and charged with second-degree rape, court filings said. The criminal complaint alleges May used "force, coercion, or threats of immediate and great bodily injury" against the victim.
Referring to law enforcement reports at a court hearing Tuesday, the judge said officers found the victim hiding behind a bar, and she alleged that May had raped her, the Argus Leader newspaper of Sioux Falls reported.
May's attorney, Matt Kinney, declined to comment, saying he had not yet been provided any police reports or statements.
May, a Republican, came in fourth in a four-person race for two District 27 House seats. One of the two winners was his mother, Republican state Rep. Liz May.
A Republican candidate for the state Senate in neighboring District 26 was arrested in the days before the election, as well. The candidate, Joel Koskan, was charged with child abuse Nov. 3, court records show.
The Mitchell Republic reported that a plea agreement has been submitted to the judge. The agreement — which the newspaper reported would spare Koskan jail time for pleading guilty while requiring him to undergo therapy, pay fines and stay away from the alleged victim — was entered onto the court docket on Nov. 7, the day before the election. Koskan lost the Senate race by about 1,000 of the nearly 6,000 votes cast.
Koskan's lawyer, Clint Sargent, declined to comment.
