Two people who were drinking with Scott McQuilkin hours before he was found dead in a Reinholds apartment last weekend physically abused the 32-year-old man after he passed out, police allege.

Troy J. Stewart and Lauren E. Reed, a onetime girlfriend of McQuilkin's, told police they "thought it would be funny" if he woke up with obscenities scribbled across his back and a nearly 10-inch wood stick protruding from his rectum, according to court documents.

But McQuilkin never woke up.

The 32-year-old Downingtown man was found dead Saturday afternoon, left alone by Stewart and Reed in the exact spot where he had passed out. Police called to the scene found McQuilkin lying on the floor and the "baseball bat-type object" still inside him.

Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman announced Wednesday that felony charges of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse have been filed against Stewart, 40, of Lake Street in Ephrata, and Reed, 20, of Wilmington, Del.

"It's a depraved crime," Stedman said. "It's despicable what they did. Instead of getting him help as he was passed out and eventually dying, this is what they chose to do, and now they've been arrested for it."

He added, "We do not believe this was sexually related. We do not believe at this point in time that they wanted to, that they had the intent to kill. Nonetheless, they violated his person, and it's a crime."

Authorities said that although the cause and manner of McQuilkin's death remain unclear, the case is not being considered a homicide or even a suspicious death.

"The object, the stick, did not cause an injury sufficient to result in the death of the individual," Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni said. "Certainly there was no fatal trauma on that individual's body that would account for his death."

A definitive ruling will not be made until the results of toxicology tests are available. Toxicology tests show the level of drugs, alcohol and other toxic substances in the body. Generally, it takes several weeks for the results to be available.

McQuilkin was found dead in an apartment at 200 Creamery Road, West Cocalico Township. The body was in the apartment of a woman named Heather Martin, a friend of Reed's who was familiar with McQuilkin.

"Apparently, he had a reason to find a place to stay and asked if he could go over to Ms. Martin's apartment. Permission was granted," Stedman said.

On Friday evening, Reed and her friend, Stewart, also showed up at the apartment and started drinking with McQuilkin, whom they described later as already having been under the influence of an unknown substance.

McQuilkin told Reed he had taken two pills, according to the criminal complaint. Reed said she did not know what kind of pills they were, but she told police that McQuilkin passed out twice during the evening and that both she and Stewart saw him breathing.

According to the complaint, Reed and Stewart continued to drink and at one point agreed to write obscenities on McQuilkin's  exposed back. Later, they both agreed to find a stick, described as a large Irish drumstick, and insert it into McQuilkin's rectum, the complaint states.

Reed and Stewart left the apartment with McQuilkin still unconscious. Police were dispatched to the apartment at 1:14 p.m. Saturday after a 911 call from Reed's sister, who lives in Reinholds. She told dispatchers that Reed saw McQuilkin lying on the floor of the apartment.

Stedman said that because the case was initially a "suspicious death," he did not want details of the assault on McQuilkin to be made public.

"We did not know whether that was the cause of death or not," Stedman said. "And we didn't know what exactly we had" — a homicide or accidental death — "and that's one of the reasons we did a motion to seal the affidavit on a temporary basis. We didn't want that information about the stick getting out there. It would have affected the investigation."

Convictions of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and conspiracy carry maximum prison sentences of 10 to 20 years each.

Both Reed and Stewart are in Lancaster County Prison.

tmurse@lnpnews.com