Respected Twitter Engineer Dana McCallum Charged With Rape
Senior Twitter engineer Dana McCallum, a well-regarded advocate for transgender and women's rights in the tech industry, was arrested in January and charged with raping her wife, according to The San Francisco Examiner.
The District Attorney's Office charged McCallum with five felonies, including three counts of spousal rape, one count of false imprisonment and one count of domestic violence on January 29th. She pleaded not guilty. McCallum was released on a $350,000 bail. The Examiner obtained court documents which said that attending AA meetings was a condition of McCallum's release.
I spoke with McCallum's lawyer John Runfola this morning, who said he would get back to me later today. In response to questions, McCallum directed Valleywag to Runfola. In an email, Twitter spokesperson Jim Prosser said: "We don't comment on employee's personal matters."
The Examiner spoke to Runfola, who said the allegations were purely based on the amount of money McCallum will receive as a Twitter employee.
Despite the charges, McCallum's attorney, John Runfola, says the case is simply about money.
"I'm just disgusted that, you know, this is going on," Runfola said. "Dana is an employee [at Twitter] and is about to come into a large amount of money. … This whole thing is about money."
The couple had been separated, he said, but were still having sexual relations. McCallum served her wife with divorce papers the day before the incident, Runfola said.
The incident in question, according to Runfola, happened in a small condo in the Mission district when four teenagers were in the house.
"No one heard 'rape' or fighting or anything," he said.
There are no witnesses for the prosecution, except one teenager who allegedly heard "no" through a door," Runfola said regarding police files.
McCallum's Twitter handle is @danadanger. According to her author bio on Model View Culture, McCallum is "an advocate for women in technology and the LGBT community, Dana helped create advocacy teams at Twitter and other companies, served as a delegate on women's issues in India, and speaks regularly at events focused on women and LGBT people in tech."
Update: On Twitter, Erin Caton, a friend of McCallum's wife, called Runfola a liar and described a very different version of the incident. Caton says she was present during hospital tests for the alleged rape. Reached by email, Caton told Valleywag, "I stand by my tweets." I asked both Runfola and McCallum for comment on Caton's allegations. Runfola did not respond. In an email, McCallum told Valleywag:
Maybe you could ask Erin why she decided to stir things up now. The case is working its way through the courts. What more does she want?
Here are some of Caton's claims. You can find them all compiled here:
Dana's wife is a staunch supporter of trans rights too. She was appalled that Dana was listed as male in the arrest site.
— Erin Caton (@erin) April 11, 2014
It's not okay to make up your own evidence. The police have all the CSI, I was there for all the hospital testing.
— Erin Caton (@erin) April 11, 2014
@bshine I heard them all, I went to the hospital with her, I saw the wounds. There is no way this is not true.
— Erin Caton (@erin) April 11, 2014
The lack of witnesses the lawyer claims is totally untrue. I'm sure CSI will have some fun with him in court too. I heard the witnesses.
— Erin Caton (@erin) April 11, 2014
@bshine She's going through a regular divorce, which gives you half and is not asking for money in the criminal case, so that's all bullshit
— Erin Caton (@erin) April 11, 2014
Her wife was totally shocked to be raped by Dana too! Shocking all around, folks.
— Erin Caton (@erin) April 11, 2014
Dana's wife is not asking for a money settlement. Just actual legal justice so she can teach the teenage witnesses rape is not okay.
— Erin Caton (@erin) April 11, 2014
This story is developing and will be updated as we learn more. To contact the author of this post, please email nitasha@gawker.com.