Update: A comment from Matt Hennessy, the Houston-based attorney representing Daniels and Walters, was added to this story on the morning of Jan. 30.
University of Michigan professor David Daniels, a world-famous opera countertenor, and his husband Scott Walters were arrested in Ann Arbor on Tuesday, Jan. 29, according to police.
The two face extradition to Texas, where they’re accused of raping a 23-year-old singer.
Each is charged with second-degree sexual assault and could face between 2 and 20 years in prison if convicted, according to the Texas penal code.
The couple were investigated by the Houston Police Department after Samuel Schultz alleged in a story published by the New York Daily News on Aug. 22 that Daniels and Walters drugged and raped him following a Houston opera performance in 2010.
Schultz claims he awoke the next afternoon in a strange bed, disoriented, in pain and bleeding from the rectum.
“David and Scott are innocent of any wrongdoing,” said Matt Hennessy, the Houston-based attorney representing the couple. "Sam Schultz is not a victim. He never would have gotten this much attention from his singing, and he knows and resents that fact. He waited eight years to complain about adult, consensual sex to ride the MeToo movement to unearned celebrity. We will fight this.”
Ann Arbor police arrested Daniels and Walters separately Tuesday afternoon. They are both lodged at the Washtenaw County Jail pending extradition to Texas, where they face prosecution.
Daniels is also named in a federal civil lawsuit filed by former University of Michigan student Andrew Lipian, who claims he was invited over to Daniels' apartment to watch “Ru Paul’s Drag Race” in March 2017 and was sexually assaulted after being given bourbon and tricked into taking sleep medication.
Daniels called Lipian’s allegations “fake and malicious" in a counter claim filed in December.
The UM professor was also accused of sexual misconduct by another student in March 2018. The anonymous student claimed Daniels offered to pay him for sex over Grindr, a phone application designed to facilitate sexual encounters. Pittsfield police investigated the matter, but found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
The UM Board of Regents voted to give Daniels, who joined the university in 2015, approval for tenure in May 2018, less than two months following the anonymous complaint.
University spokeswoman Kim Broekhuizen declined to comment on Daniels' arrest and confirmed he is on paid leave.
"We have nothing more to share at this time," she said.
Daniels took paid leave in August after the 2010 Houston rape allegations became public.