Sexual assault allegations from NC State party with football players are described in search warrants

Search warrants released Friday provide details of a party at N.C. State University in July that led to an investigation into sexual assault allegations and the dismissal of two Wolfpack football players from the team.

In applying for warrants to search phones, cars and rooms of football players at the July 21 party, investigators chronicled what the three accusers told them a day later.

One of the women said that while she was at the party, she became inebriated after consuming alcohol and smoking marijuana and thinks she was sexually assaulted by seven to 10 men.

“She stated that over the course of the night she had periods where she blacked out and lost consciousness,” NCSU police detective J. Smith-Andrews wrote in an application for a search warrant. “During this time while she was impaired,” the woman believed “she may have had sex with between 7-10 men, but she is not certain.”

The woman 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.”

Another woman told police she was approached from behind and groped by somebody while at the party, but she was able to leave.

A third woman said she felt pressured to have sex with one of the men. After being groped by him several times, she said, she had sex with him in a bathroom. She left the apartment, according to investigators, but returned and ended up in a bedroom with the same man, telling investigators that she had sex with him again in bed because he was being aggressive and she thought “it would be best for her to go ahead and get it over with.”

The party was at Timber Hall on Wolf Village Way on campus, while Wolfpack players were enrolled in summer school before the start of the fall season.

Practice started a week later.

Players Antoine Thompson and Kevince Brown were dismissed from the team, while Isaiah Moore, Erin Collins and Xavier Lyas were suspended from competition while a school investigation and criminal probe continue. All five players are freshmen.

“I continue to respect due process and understand these are the allegations that led to the investigation,” Wolfpack coach Dave Doeren said in a statement Friday. “These student-athletes remain suspended from competition until conclusion of the investigation. As I said previously, I will be firm, but fair when it comes to discipline. We have a team full of young men committed to representing our university with integrity and respect.”

No charges have been filed in the case.

NCSU athletics officials have not provided further details on why two of the players were dismissed and the other three suspended. The university police notified the athletic department of the players involved on Aug. 8. The players were disciplined by Doeren over the course of the next two days.

“These are the allegations that launched the investigation and as we previously indicated we respect due process. These allegations do not align with our values and the student-athletes remain suspended from competition. Participation in intercollegiate athletics is a privilege, not a right,” Debbie Yow, the university’s director of athletics, said in a statement.

Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said Friday that “search warrants are based on allegations that were brought in the very beginning of the process.”

The women told investigators they think they could have been drugged at the party, too.

According to investigators, the women started out drinking bourbon. Then some of the students left in search of marijuana and more alcohol.

They returned with a blunt of marijuana, investigators said, and Four Loko malt beverages.

“Substantial investigation has happened since then,” Freeman said, adding that the investigation had turned up no video of the conduct the women alleged.

“We’re awaiting some lab tests,” Freeman added. “We continue to review the investigation, and we’re in contact with the women who brought the allegations and will continue working through all of this information to make a determination whether charges will be brought.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2017 at 3:20 PM with the headline "Sexual assault allegations from NC State party with football players are described in search warrants."