Former Temple AEPi president will be tried on 14 charges

Ari Goldstein will be tried for two sets of sexual assault charges in one trial, a Philadelphia judge ruled at a pre-trial hearing on Thursday.

Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge Timika Lane ruled to consolidate 14 total sexual assault-related charges against Goldstein, the former president of Temple University’s chapter of Alpha Epsilon Pi. Lauren Stram, a 2015 law alumna and the assistant district attorney, said the two victims’ allegations were similar enough to argue in one trial.

Stram cited the similar age of the victims, the circumstances of the alleged assaults and the fact that both women are students at Temple.

“When things don’t go his way, he forces them to perform oral sex on him,” Stram argued in court.

Goldstein, who appeared in court on Thursday, was charged with seven counts of sexual assault-related crimes in each case, ranging from rape to unlawful restraint and bodily injury. His trial is set to begin on June 4 at the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice.

Perry DeMarco, Sr., one of Goldstein’s defense attorneys, said he is hopeful the consolidation will be reversed.

“It is extremely prejudicial to my client to combine two cases which are factually unrelated,” he told The Temple News.

In the first alleged incident on Feb. 25, 2018, Goldstein and his accuser met on the first floor of the AEPi chapter house on Broad Street near Norris, she testified in July 2018. The accuser alleged that while in Goldstein’s room, he forcibly kissed her and attempted to force her to perform oral sex.

Another accuser, who testified that she had a previous consensual relationship with Goldstein, claimed they began to have consensual sexual intercourse inside his room at the now-removed chapter house in November 2017.

Goldstein became “aggressive unlike any of her past encounters,” she testified, according to an affidavit of probable cause. She alleged Goldstein bruised her collarbone and pushed her to perform oral sex, placing his hand on the back of her head.

Goldstein’s attorneys deny their client committed any crime.