A Utah State football player has been arrested after police say he kidnapped and raped a woman near campus.
The player was booked Monday and is being held without bail in the Cache County jail on suspicion of five felony charges — three for the alleged attack and two for allegedly selling drugs to other USU students.
The Salt Lake Tribune typically does not name suspects until they have been charged with a crime. His online profile has been removed from the school’s roster; he was a junior on the team.
The player was arrested after police say they matched his DNA to a sexual assault exam from a woman who had reported being assaulted in September.
The woman went to the emergency room for injuries from the assault and completed a rape examination there. She then talked to police from North Park, an area near the Logan school where the alleged attack occurred.
She told officers she was at an event when she bumped into the player, court records state. She said she did not know him, but he grabbed her wrist and forced her out of the building and across the street to a secluded area.
“The female described repetitively telling the male that she did not want to go and wanted to go back to her friends,” according to a probable cause statement.
She said the player raped her and then left. According to court documents, several people reported seeing the player in the area.
When he was arrested, police say the player denied the allegations. The player asked officers if the woman was pregnant, according to a statement from police.
The player was already booked in jail when police also connected him to two alleged drug deals — one on campus and one within 100 feet of campus — involving medication for ADHD. He is also being held on suspicion for those charges.
USU said in a statement Tuesday that school officials were “not previously aware of the allegations” from September. But upon learning about the arrest, the school dismissed the player.
The university also said its student-athletes are required to participate in “numerous” trainings about appropriate sexual conduct.
“USU Athletics is proactive in taking a comprehensive approach in building a culture of safety and respect,” said USU Interim Athletics Director Jerry Bovee. “... And we unequivocally will not tolerate any violations of the law.”
But the player’s arrest comes as the school — and USU’s football program, in particular — has been under the spotlight for several years surrounding how it responds to reports of sexual assault.
Multiple students have alleged the school ignored their reports of assault in the piano department, fraternities and sororities and the football team. Most recently, former football player Patrick Maddox said he was retaliated against when he tried to bring concerns to light about derogatory comments made by head coach Blake Anderson and the then-police chief.
Anderson told his players in a recording that drew national attention that it “has never been more glamorized to be a victim” of sexual assault. He has since apologized. The police chief at the time similarly told the team to beware of having sex with Latter-day Saint women because they might later feel “regret” and report it as nonconsensual; he resigned.
Additionally, former USU Athletic Director John Hartwell apologized last year for a video that showed him repeating part of a vulgar joke while he was away at a football bowl game for the school in 2019.
Those comments came to light after a December 2021 lawsuit was filed by Utah State student Kaytriauna Flint, who alleged the school was continuing to protect its football players against claims of sexual assault, including in her case.
Michael Young and Lauren Hunt, the attorneys who have represented Flint and Maddox, released a statement Tuesday, saying they are concerned to hear of another alleged assault.
“The issues with this particular program are well-documented, yet the problem persists,” they said. “We sincerely hope that real, substantive steps will be taken to stop events like this from happening again. The students and community deserve better.”
Prior to Flint’s case, the Logan school had been investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice, which released findings in January 2020 that said USU often failed to investigate when it knew about misconduct and, as a result, “rendered additional students vulnerable.”
The university had been criticized by the DOJ for how it handled football player Torrey Green’s case. Green was convicted in 2019 of sexually assaulting six women while he was a student at the Logan school; the women said the school did not act on their reports. His conviction was upheld earlier this year.
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