Vagts Trial

A Law School professor testified in Middlest superior court yesterday that a woman Who allegedly blackmailed him lied when she accused him of rape.

Gladston Professor of Law Detlev F. Vagts told the court that he fired the woman, a former Extension School student, from her position in his household last January because he and his wife suspected her of stealing jewelry from their home.

The day after her dismissal, the woman charged that Vagts raped her while she was in his employ. But three weeks later, she retracted her accusation, claiming instead that her boyfriend had raped her and forced her to file the false complaint.

The boyfriend, Alexander V Gactan, is being prosecuted in this trial for rape and attempted extortion.

Vagts's testimony, however, challenged the credibility of the woman, who brought the charges against Gactan, a former Tuffs lecturer.

Vagts said that the defendant spoke to him by phone twice last winter. On one occasion Vagts said, Gactan cautioned him to be careful of his employee.

He warned me about her, "Vafts said

And on the night of her discharge. Vagts added Gactan told him that the woman had shown him keys and other possessions taken from his house.

Under questioning by defense attorney Thomas C. Troy, Vagts repeated that the alleged victim's original claims that he had attacked and sexually harassed her were untrue.

The trial is expected to continue through the end of this week.