Reporter who wrote about being raped won't be charged in stalking case

Monday, July 5th 2004, 9:57 am

By: News On 6

BROOMFIELD, Colo. (AP) _ A reporter who published an account of being raped as a child and said he once considered killing his alleged attacker will not be charged with stalking the man, prosecutors said.

David Holthouse, 33, whose account was published in the Denver alternative weekly Westword, was arrested on suspicion of stalking on May 29, allegedly because he had asked a friend to watch the alleged rapist's home.

Prosecutor Steve Bernard said the alleged attacker did not want to press charges.

In the May 13 Westword story, Holthouse described being raped at knifepoint at age 7 in 1978 by the teenage son of a family acquaintance. Holthouse wrote that he bought a gun and planned to kill the man but changed his mind after his parents found out about the assault.

Holthouse said his mother sent letters to the alleged rapist's neighbors warning them of the man's past. Fearing retaliation against his parents, Holthouse said he asked a friend to watch the man.