Elizabeth Capra has filed a lawsuit against the Chicago nightclub El Hefe, claiming she was sexually assaulted after being slipped a drug while drinking at the bar.
According to the lawsuit, Capra was given a drink laced with acetone when she went to the nightclub in October 2014. Acetone is a substance known as a “date rape” drug.
“That evening I was out with a few girlfriends watching a Bears game,” Capra said. “I was sitting at the bar and ordered my own drink. Had one drink. I don’t really remember anything after that, but my two girlfriends who were with me at the time told me I started acting extremely, extremely out of the ordinary, extremely intoxicated very fast.”
Capra said that her friends went to the restroom at one point, but couldn’t find her when they came back. The lawsuit claims El Hefe allowed her “to leave the premises after being drugged, where she was sexually assaulted.”
Capra said she decided to come forward after she saw a video related to the alleged assault of a woman on October 18 of this year. The woman said she was approached by an unknown man who kept buying her drinks. Her lawsuit states that a bartender noticed the man make sexual advances and said her condition was rapidly deteriorating The bartender believes the woman was drugged.
The woman’s lawsuit claims that employees escorted her to an alley behind the nightclub and stood there as a man allegedly sexually assaulted her. Her lawyers said that they believe that the alleged assailant either works at the nightclub or knows someone who works there.
Capra said she sought medical care after her incident. She said the rape kit confirmed that she had been assaulted and a toxicology report said she was slipped acetone.
“We are extremely proud of Liz for coming forward and being brave enough to tell her story,” said attorney Brian Monico.
Lissa Druss, a spokesperson for 15 Hubbard, LLC which is doing business as El Hefe, said an internal interview will be conducted soon.
“Reports like these in any part of our city are very disturbing. What I can tell you is the ownership of El Hefe is working very closely with the police department and City of Chicago to get to the bottom of what happened in these instances,” she said.