Stephen Matthews charges: New court documents reveal women recounting blacking out, alleged sexual assault by Colorado cardiologist

By BRIAN MAASS

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    DENVER (KCNC) — A newly unsealed arrest affidavit for Denver cardiologist Stephen Matthews reveals a pattern of 10 women reporting blacking out after drinking with the Denver doctor during dates over the last four years, with several of them saying he sexually assaulted them after they had blacked out.

Matthews was arrested Monday and charged in nine new cases. He had previously been charged with felony sex assault in a single case from earlier this year. His attorney, Douglas Cohen, has said Matthews is innocent.

“He’s alleged to do things,” said Cohen on Monday. “Many people are alleged to do things — I’ll leave it at that.”

While several of the cases in the affidavit have been previously reported by CBS News Colorado, most are being revealed for the first time with remarkably similar stories. All of them say that they met Matthews via various dating apps.

One woman says she met Matthews for a date on Jan. 25, 2023 and had one alcoholic drink at a bar then went back to his home. She said he made her a drink but after consuming part of it, was “off balance. She remembered him filming her at one point. She remembered him kissing her and then she blacked out,” according to the affidavit. She said she has little memory of what happened but believes Matthews sexually assaulted her “but has no memory of it.” Another woman told police she met Matthews via the dating app Tinder and met him for brunch in 2019. She said they had mimosas and went back to his home. She said Matthews made her a drink and “that after the drink things became very blurry.” She told police she did not remember leaving but ended up back at her apartment with him “and woke up to Dr. Matthews having sex with her.” She said after she told Matthews she would not meet him again, “he sent her photos of her naked in the hot tub.” In 2020 or 2021, another woman reported to Denver police that she met Matthews on the dating app Hinge and he suggested she come “to the hospital so they could ‘hook up’ there and that many other women had done it.” According to the affidavit, she declined, but later met him at his home where he said that she “would not want to know what type of porn he likes to watch” and he told her he likes “choking.” She said she engaged in consensual sex with him once but when she went to his home a second time and had a drink he gave her, “she blacked out and does not remember anything after that point.”

All told, Matthews is facing charges of sexual assault on a helpless victim, sexual assault without consent, sexual assault on an incapable victim and second-degree assault involving drugging women.

Police executed a search warrant on Matthews home Monday and could be seen removing bags of apparent evidence.

A magistrate ruled Tuesday that Matthews’ phone, which was seized Monday, could not be immediately searched by investigators because it may contain privileged information between Matthews and his attorney. Magistrate Arnie Beckman issued a protective order prohibiting police or prosecutors from examining Matthews’ phone.

“There’s a multitude of issues,” said Beckman during a Tuesday morning court appearance.

Matthews is being held in the Denver jail without bond pending another hearing Friday morning.

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