“Mr. Kroger: two C’s, two D’s and an F. That’s a 1.2 grade average. Congratulations, Kroger. You’re at the top of the Delta pledge class.”
– Dean Vernon Wormer
It always gives me such a nice warm feeling in my heart to read about the exploits of my alma mater’s football team ……….. especially considering that the school frequently calls me and other alumni for donations ………….
Source: http://www.twincities.com/newsletter-morning/ci_6391298
Football Gopher charged with rape
Cell phone video allegedly ties cornerback Dominic Jones to intoxicated victim
BY EMILY GURNON
Pioneer Press
TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
Article Launched:07/17/2007 12:01:00 AM CDT
A University of Minnesota football player was charged Monday with third-degree criminal sexual assault for allegedly having sex with a young woman at his apartment complex when she was so drunk that she was “physically helpless.”
A cell phone video clip of cornerback Dominic Lee Jones, 20, allegedly assaulting the woman is a key piece of evidence in the case, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said.
The clip had been erased but was partially recovered by forensic experts, Freeman said.
Dominic Jones, who was arrested Sunday night, was one of several Gophers players in the Minneapolis apartment where the 18-year-old victim and some friends were having a “drinking contest” in April, according to the criminal complaint.
The others present included cornerback Keith Massey, defensive end Alex Daniels and running back E.J. Jones, who were arrested shortly after the woman went to police but were released without being charged.
They also had sex with the victim after she had been drinking, and they remain suspects, Freeman said.
Dominic Jones and E.J. Jones are not related; Dominic Jones is the half-brother of Keith Massey.
“Today’s charge represents a significant next step in this case,” Freeman said. “We are going to continue to review each of the cases, each on its own proof.”
It was not clear late Monday whether Dominic Jones had hired an attorney. He was being held at the Hennepin County Jail on $50,000 bail.
Jeff DeGree, the attorney for E.J. Jones, said he was disappointed to hear his client was still a suspect.
“It seems pretty clear that any contact that he had with this girl occurred several hours earlier in the night,” he said. “We’re still confident he won’t be charged and will be back on the football field in the fall.”
Mike Colich, the attorney for Alex Daniels, said: “We are frustrated that for three months they keep telling us there is an investigation going on. In this particular case, Alex Daniels didn’t commit any crime.'’
What happened the night of April 3 and early morning of April 4 was this, according to the criminal complaint:
The victim had gone with friends to a University Village apartment on University Avenue shared by Massey, Daniels, E.J. Jones and a fourth man. Dominic Jones lived in another apartment in the complex.
The fourth man, identified by his mother as former Gophers defensive end Robert McField, challenged the woman to a drinking contest and proceeded to give her eight shots of Karkov vodka, “filled to the brim,” according to the complaint. The football players did not drink. McField and the victim’s female friend then left the room, according to the complaint.
Sometime after that, Massey, Daniels and E.J. Jones took the victim to a bedroom and took turns having sex with her. She was so drunk that she later fell off the toilet seat and hit her head on the bathtub.
McField’s mother, Denise McField, of suburban St. Louis, said her son went to McDonald’s while the sex took place. McField was a member of the Gophers team until last October, when U officials learned he had been charged in two armed robberies. McField pleaded guilty in June to two counts of robbery and one count of armed criminal action and is serving a 12-year sentence in Missouri.
Denise McField said her son told her the sex involving the four was consensual. McField and E.J. Jones have known each other since receiving a local athletics award together their senior year in high school.
“He said, ‘Mama, that girl was just intoxicated.’ Robert lives around women … he has too much respect for that,” Denise McField said.
Massey, Daniels and E.J. Jones are identified only by their initials in the complaint, but “you can figure out from the initials who they are,” Freeman said.
According to the complaint, McField and the victim’s female friend helped her back to the living room. They tried to put her in a chair, but she kept falling out of it. They decided to take her home but realized she could not walk, so they laid her on the couch, where she passed out.
McField later went into Daniels’ bedroom to find Dominic Jones allegedly sexually assaulting the woman while Daniels recorded it on his cell phone, Freeman said.
Dominic Jones then asked McField if he “wants a hit,” according to the complaint.
Denise McField said her son never told her about Dominic Jones. “That’s real hard to believe,” she said. “I’m going to ask him about that.”
The deleted cell phone video that forensic experts were able to recover showed the time as 2:50 a.m. April 4, according to the complaint. The unresponsive female in the video was identified as the victim who reported the rape, the complaint said. It was unclear if the taping of the assault could result in charges against Daniels. Prosecutors said the taping of a crime isn’t a crime unless there is evidence of participation by the camera operator.
The woman told her dorm roommates, as well as two of her co-workers, that she believed she had been raped, according to the complaint. The co-workers urged her to go to hospital for a sexual assault exam, which she did, the complaint said.
Dr. Stephen Smith, an expert on sexual assaults facilitated by drugs and alcohol, told investigators that, given the amount of vodka and the victim’s size and weight, she would have had a blood alcohol level of at least 0.30 percent. That translates, he said, to a “stupor,” according to the complaint.
Now in his junior year, Dominic Jones is a cornerback from Columbus, Ohio, who was second on the team in tackles last season. He also was the team’s primary kick returner, running back 32 kickoffs and 19 punts. He appeared in all 13 games.
A university spokesman said the four men have been suspended from the football team, but they remain students at the U.
The charge against Dominic Jones was “disappointing news for our entire team,” U football coach Tim Brewster said in a written statement.
“The conduct alleged in this case does not reflect the expectations and aspirations that the University has for its student-athletes or any of its students,” said Joel Maturi, director of athletics, in a written statement. “Accordingly, appropriate disciplinary action will be considered as we gain more information.”
University Village is a privately owned complex partially leased by the university. The apartment where the assault allegedly occurred was in the university-leased section.
Massey, Daniels and E.J. Jones were moved to other housing after the incident.
The woman, 18, was a college student but did not attend the University of Minnesota, Freeman said.
Tad Vezner and Ray Richardson contributed to this story.
Emily Gurnon can be reached at egurnon@pioneerpress.com or 612-338-6516.
– Smitty, 7-19-07
