Rape charges dropped, but scars remain

Story here. Excerpt:

'For more than three months, Scott Michael Waite wore an electronic ankle bracelet that made him a prisoner in his own home. With his reputation sullied and his life put on hold, he sat accused of raping a 26-year-old woman he had met in an Oakdale bar on a cold January night.

But in a recent unique turn of events, after an exhaustive investigation by his attorney, Ryan Garry, prosecutors dropped the charges in April. Waite, 29, now must rebuild his life.

"I'm pretty shook up by the whole thing," Waite said. "I was treated like a complete criminal. To hear people say these malicious things about me is really hurtful."

The case was dropped "in the interest of justice" and was an unusual one "where we get information after the fact and feel we really can't prove our case at all," said Susan Harris, first assistant attorney in Washington County. "In this particular case, they found a lot of people willing to come forward and speak against [the accuser]."'