Football players will not be charged for sexual assault at NC State party
It is not yet known whether any of the players will be allowed back on the team
Five football players allegedly involved in reports of multiple sexual assaults at the same Wolf Village party on July 21 will not be charged due to a lack of sufficient evidence.
According to the Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, “Our office has undertaken a detailed review of the information provided from the investigation conducted by North Carolina State University police. The evidence does not support moving forward with a criminal prosecution.”
NCSU PD handed the investigation over to Wake County District Attorney's office in August after months of investigations, during which time three football players were suspended and two were dismissed from the team.
The investigation into the football players began after three sexual assaults were reported at the same party on July 21st, where the players were in attendance.
Earlier this week, the requests for search warrants containing statements from the victims were released to the public.
The first victim claimed to have been intoxicated and under the influence of marijuana when she was assaulted at the party and “she may have had sex with between 7-10 men, but she is not certain,” according to a search warrant application by NCSU police detective J. Smith-Andrews. She told the detective “she could see the flashes from the cell phones of the NCSU students in the room, indicating they video recorded her being sexually assaulted.”
The second complaint was from a woman saying she was groped from behind at the party and she then left.
The third woman said she felt pressured to have sex with one guy in the bathroom at the party. She left and then returned, where she had sex with him again because he was being aggressive. She told police she thought “it would be best for her to go ahead and get it over with.”
The women reported they may have been drugged at the party, as well. So far, evidence has shown they drank bourbon and partygoers left to get marijuana and alcohol, returning with a blunt and Four Lokos.
There are no details as to which of the five freshmen players were involved in what assaults. It is not yet known whether any of the players will be allowed back on the team.