Lawsuit alleges a guest at Hotel Drover was drugged and sexually assaulted
.jpg "The Hotel Drover was voted as DFW’s best hotel in 2025. This Fort Worth Stockyards boutique hotel was also been voted the best in 2022 and 2024.")
A North Texas woman alleges that she was drugged and sexually assaulted at the Hotel Drover in the Fort Worth Stockyards in January of this year, according to a lawsuit she filed against the hotel and its owners on June 1 in Tarrant County.
An attorney for the hotel referred questions to a spokesperson for the Stockyards Heritage Development Co., which is also named as a defendant in the suit. The spokesperson said in an emailed statement, “We are aware of the claims and alleged activity in the legal filings you have referenced in your email. Because this is an issue that remains under investigation and is in the legal process, we’re not able to provide any additional information or comment.”
The woman, who asked that her name be withheld due to the nature of the alleged incident, was visiting the hotel with her boyfriend for a late lunch and “related social time,” according to the suit. After about two hours at the lobby bar on the property, she became severely impaired in a manner inconsistent with alcohol intoxication alone, she said.
From that point, the woman’s memory became fragmented, the suit states.
Based on partial recall and the need for evidence controlled by the hotel, the woman believes “a hotel staff employee, agent, contractor or older male guest or patron” on the property forcibly shoved her face-first into a restroom wall before raping her, according to the suit.
The impact of the shove caused facial trauma and a visible nosebleed, the suit states.
After the assault, the woman was taken through the lobby area to a “staff-only” section of the hotel, and subsequently escorted by “six or seven men” to the front desk in plain view of her boyfriend, according to the suit. While still at the hotel, the woman told hotel staff about her concerns and requested safe lodging due to her condition, she said.
When she offered to pay for a hotel room, she was told the hotel “did not give rooms to escorts,” or another statement to that effect, according to the lawsuit. Hotel staff also denied her access to transportation resources, which were necessary given her impaired condition and an ongoing winter storm at the time, and threatened her with calling the police to press DUI charges, the suit states.
The woman reported the incident to Fort Worth police and underwent a forensic sexual assault examination, she told the Star-Telegram. Hair follicle testing after the incident confirmed she had been exposed to sedative-hypnotic drugs, according to the lawsuit. Police did not immediately respond to the Star-Telegram’s request for the report.
Prior to filing the lawsuit, the woman asked the hotel’s insurance company to preserve the surveillance footage and other relevant records from the time of the incident, and received no response from the insurer, she said.
Therefore, the footage was destroyed after the hotel’s 30-day retention timeframe elapsed, according to the lawsuit.
In addition to securing compensation for her injuries, the lawsuit states, the woman also filed suit to preserve the remaining evidence from the night of the alleged assault.
Though the lawsuit seeks upwards of $1 million in damages, the woman said, the effort isn’t about money. In a conversation with the Star-Telegram, the woman said she’s more concerned about making sure a similar incident never happens again, especially at a large tourist destination like the Fort Worth Stockyards.
