Pick up artist jailed after raping woman and blogging about the attack

The woman was reportedly found unconscious and face down in her own vomit following the attack

The court was told the man blogged about the attack afterwards in an online 'pick up' forum. File image (BrianAJackson/iStock)

A ‘pick up artist’ has been convicted of raping a woman and blogging about the attack, it has been reported. The woman was so drunk at the time she had passed out in her own vomit when he committed the offence.

Alex Smith, 27, taught men “rejection-proof” techniques for “seducing” women as an instructor at a company called Efficient Pickup, DailyBeast reports. He and a pick up colleague met two women on a night out in San Diego and invited them to a flat where a third man, one of their “students” was waiting.

When one of the women passed out, Smith reportedly raped her and asked the student to do so as well. The second woman entered the room to find her friend naked, face down in her own vomit and surrounded by the two men who were naked. They reportedly informed her “we just tag-teamed your friend” before ejecting both women from the apartment.

The woman who had been assaulted contacted San Diego police but they reportedly did not attend the scene or question the men. She later investigated the men by searching online and found “pick up” forums in which they discussed committing the attack against her. After she submitted the accounts to police, the men were questioned and arrested.

When sentencing Smith, San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser praised the woman’s “amazing” work to investigate the men and bring them to justice. He sentenced him to 8 years in prison, telling the court: “The one term that is very appropriate for this particular trial is ‘misogyny’. The defendant did treat the victim in this case not as a human being but simply as an object.

“And I’ve got to tell you, having sat up here for 18 years, there’s a lot of people that have sat in that [the accused’s] chair and I can’t recall- murderers, rapists, kidnappers- I don’t know if I’ve seen one that has been as mean and cruel as you have been.”

Judge Fraser added: “This is not a hard decision at all. In fact, if I could give you more time, I would. But the law only allows me to give you a certain amount of time.”

The man who allegedly also took part in the incident as Smith’s student is due to be sentenced in February.

In a statement submitted to the Daily Beast following the verdict, the victim said: “My hope is that these men within the pickup artist community with notions of women as disposable sexual objects only to be controlled, used, and shared amongst each other, will see that their actions are considered criminal and will not go unpunished.

”Furthermore, I hope this will encourage other rape victims, especially those cases that are difficult to prove — involving unconsciousness, alcohol, or drugs — to feel confident in the justice system once again."