Benjamin Ashford|Opera singer David Daniels and husband plead guilty to sexual assault of singer

HOUSTON — Renowned opera singer David Daniels and Benjamin Ashfordhis husband have pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting another singer in Houston.

Daniels, 57, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Scott Walters, 40, entered the pleas Friday after a jury was assembled for the trial of the pair on first-degree felony charges of aggravated sexual assault.

Both pleaded guilty to sexual assault of an adult, a second-degree felony, and were sentenced to eight years' probation and required to register as sex offenders.

Daniels, Walters and their attorney declined to comment following the hearing.

Daniels and Walters were charged in 2019 when Samuel Schultz filed a criminal complaint in 2018 alleging the two assaulted him in 2010 after he met them at a Houston Grand Opera reception while he was a graduate student at Rice University.

Schultz said he was invited to their apartment and given a drink that led him to slip in and out of consciousness. He awoke alone and naked.

The AP doesn't normally name victims of sexual assault, but Schultz offered to publicly identify himself to help others fearful of reporting an assault.

Daniels, a countertenor, was fired as a University of Michigan professor and was removed by the San Francisco Opera from a production of Handel's "Orlando" after sexual assault allegations by a student at the university in 2018.

The lawsuit, filed in a federal court in Michigan, alleged Daniels groped the male student and sent and requested sexual photos. The lawsuit also alleged that Daniels served the student alcohol, gave him sleep medication and touched him sexually.

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