Written by Kyle Austin at M Live.com
The Ingham County Prosecutor will seek sexual assault charges against three members of the Michigan State football team, according to a Monday afternoon press release.
The release says that “we are alleging that on the night of January 16, those three persons sexually assaulted a woman in an East Lansing apartment on campus.”
While the decision has been made to seek those charges, as of 4 p.m. on Monday, no arrest warrants had been issued by 54-B District Court. A court clerk said then that Judge Richard D. Ball had left his courtroom for the day and wouldn’t return until 9 a.m. the following day.
As a result, the three players have not been formally charged, and as such the names of those accused have not been released. Specifics of the charges being sought were not offered by the prosecutor’s office.
The release also notes that the office also reviewed charges against a former employee of the football program that were not of a sexual nature. The prosecutor declined to issue charges against that individual.
Curtis Blackwell, the team’s former recruiting director, was suspended from his duties in February for what the school termed “serious violations regarding your conduct.” His contract was not renewed when it expired on May 31.
The investigation into the alleged incident, which was conducted by the Michigan State University Police Department, lasted more than four months. The three players are currently suspended from the team and have been removed from university housing.
When the charges are authorized, Michigan State will have had four members of its 2016 team charged with sexual assault this offseason.
Auston Robertson, a freshman defensive end last year, was charged in April with third degree criminal sexual assault in an unrelated incident.
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