Curtis Lepore: Charges Dropped Against Vine Star Accused Of Raping Jessi Smiles

Vine star Curtis Lepore has entered a plea deal to have all rape charges against him dropped for an incident that allegedly took place in October with girlfriend Jessi Smiles, a fellow Vine star.

Police reports said that Lepore raped his girlfriend while she was unconscious, but this week the charges were dropped in exchange for a deal that gives Lepore a year of counseling and 24 days of community service.

The couple were both popular on the video-sharing site, and connected through a series of videos to each other. They later met for real in New York City, and Jessi flew to Los Angeles in August to meet Curtis Lepore again.

During the visit, Jessi Smiles suffered a concussion while filming a video and Lepore offered to take care of her. Jessi claimed that she woke up to find Curtis raping her.

Lepore was arrested in October and pled not guilty to the charges. He was released on $100,000 bail.

On Friday, Curtis Lepore responded to the plea deal via a Vine video, saying he was grateful for his supporters.

“The rape charge against me has been dismissed,” he said. “Thank you to my friends, my family, and all of you who stood by me and supported me through this.”

Jessi Smiles said she was also satisfied with the outcome.

“Curtis plead guilty to a felony assault today in court,” she said. “It is no longer going to trial. I am okay with this and thankful for it to be over.”

But it seems many followers were not happy with the outcome. Shortly after the plea deal was announced, Curtis Lepore received many angry comments on Twitter, prompting him to go on the defensive.

“News flash to everyone who is clueless about the law: a plea of guilty to a felony is NOT a conviction,” he wrote, later adding: “Believe what you want 2 believe. I am NOT and WILL NEVER be a convicted felon and that’s a FACT. There’s a reason I can’t tell my story. But there is a reason a deal was made. Make your own conclusions from that.”

If Curtis Lepore upholds the stipulations of his plea deal, the Vine star will go down with an official charge of misdemeanor assault.