PHONE SEX Golden Gophers Alex Daniels, E.J. Jones, and Keith Massey have been accused of rape — and the proof may be stored on their cell phones. |
Minnesota blues
Several big-time D-1 sports schools have found themselves enmeshed in complex multi-arrest imbroglios this week. First among these is Laurence Maroney and Kevin McHale’s alma mater, the University of Minnesota, whose Golden Gophers football team was whacked with two terrible crime tales.
The first story began either late on April 3 or early on April 4, when running back E.J. Jones, cornerback Keith Massey, and defensive end Alex Daniels hosted a party at which a young woman (a non-student) became extremely intoxicated. The woman later reported that she was carried into a bedroom and raped by three men. Upon awakening, she went through the room and found cell phones belonging to the assailants. She then claims to have entered her number in each of the phones and called herself to leave evidence in the suspects’ friends’ lists. She subsequently began receiving calls and text hits from the three men.
The players were arrested, but were not brought up on charges and were released three days later. Authorities say that the case remains under investigation and that the men remain suspects. According to various local press reports, items like condoms, mattress pads, cell phones, and couch-cushion covers were seized from the players’ homes.
The school’s response was of the what-an-awful-tragedy, let’s-let-the-system-of-due-process-take-its-course genus. Meanwhile, the three players were suspended but allowed to remain on campus.
Ironically, the men shared an apartment with Robert McField, a red-shirt freshman defensive end with the Gophers who was also suspended for violations of the school’s student-conduct code. Last year, McField was a highly touted defensive recruit whom school officials were pleased to have signed away from the University of Missouri. That is, until it turned up that the St. Louis native had two pending armed-robbery cases. When the university found out, it kicked McField off the team. Yet the school still faces charges for failing to investigate recruits. It did run a $75 criminal-background check, but the check turned up nothing. The incident has spurred a number of sportswriters to opine that all schools should conduct extensive background checks.
Police have not suggested that McField was involved in the alleged rape case. As for Jones, Massey, and Daniels, they land on this year’s list with 90 points for this utterly unfunny forcible-rape case.
Wrong way Davis
You’ve heard of wrong-way Marshall — Jim Marshall — the Minnesota Viking defensive end who in 1964 picked up a fumble and ran 64 yards — the wrong way. Well, now we have wrong-way Davis. Richard Davis that is, the University of Toledo running back who grabbed a shotgun and went off into the night to settle a dispute with a teammate — only to show up at the wrong house. Fortunately for everyone involved, the resident of the “wrong house” was an off-duty sheriff’s deputy named Vincent Scott, who met Davis at his door with a gun pointed to his head.
