A History of Athletes Catching Sexual Assault Charges
From Kobe and Iron Mike to LT and Big Ben.
Image via Complex Original
No matter the brilliance they sometimes show on the field during a game, some athletes amaze us with their horrible decision-making off the field. They get themselves into bad situations, and those situations can often have dire consequences. Unfortunately, in some of these instances there is a victim involved. Athletes like “Fast” Eddie Johnson, Christian Peter, and most recently, the Steubenville High School football players, have senselessly and brazenly sexually abused and assaulted women, in the process ruining both the victims’ lives and their own.
For every good story like Brian Banks’ recent vindication, there seem to be far more grim ones. The sad reality is that new cases come up all the time, sometimes involving high-profile players like Kobe Bryant and Ben Roethlisberger, and the more famous (and wealthy) athletes are often given leniency when perhaps they do not deserve it. Let’s take a look at how some of these athletes have fared when facing charges of (or related to) rape and sexual assault. Here is a History of Athletes Catching Sexual Assault Charges.
Tom Payne
Sport: Basketball
Year(s): 1972, 1986
Charge: Rape of two different female victims
Outcome: Following Payne's convictions and prison tour of the United States is pretty dizzying. In 1972, he was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of aggravated sodomy in Atlanta, and served five years in Georgia. He was then extradited to Kentucky where he served another five years for a separate assault before being paroled in 1983. He then moved to California, where in 1986, he served 14 years for the rape he committed there. He was finally extradited back to Kentucky in 2000 to serve an additional 15 years for the parole violation caused by the 1986 rape.
Tony Ayala, Jr.
Sport: Boxing
Year(s): 1979, 1983, 2000
Charge: Sexual assault of a teenage girl in 1979 and 30-year-old woman in 1983, burglary with intent to commit sexual assault on Nancy Gomez in 2000
Outcome: Ayala is clearly a threat to society, so it's unclear why he is continually allowed out of prison. He received 10 years of probation for his brutal 1979 assault, a 35-year sentence in 1983 that saw him serve 16 of those years before being released, and for his most recent charge 90 days in jail and 10 years of probation.
Thomas "Hollywood" Henderson
Sport: Football
Year(s): 1983
Charge: Sexual assault of two teenage girls
Outcome: The man nicknamed "Hollywood" pleaded no contest to the assault charges and served eight months in court-ordered drug rehabilitation as well as two years in prison. He has managed to turn his life around since, getting clean and even winning the Lotto Texas $28 million jackpot in 2000. He has donated much of his winnings to charitable causes, attempting to make amends for his terrible crime.
Mark "Gator" Rogowski
Sport: Skateboarding
Year(s): 1991
Charge: Assault, rape, and murder of 22-year-old Jessica Bergsten
Outcome: The Gator was diagnosed with severe bipolar disorder and sentenced to 31 years to life in prison. He became eligible for parole for the first time in 2011, and fortunately was denied thanks in part to the pleas of his victim's family.
Mike Tyson
Sport: Boxing
Year(s): 1991
Charge: Rape of 19-year-old Desiree Washington, Miss Black Rhode Island
Outcome: Iron Mike was found guilty and he served three years of a six-year sentence. He returned to boxing after that, beating up on a couple nobodies (what up, Peter McNeeley?!) in warm-up fights before losing consecutive fights to Evander Holyfield, the second of these losses brought about by his infamous ear biting incident. He has enjoyed a popular culture resurgence in recent years, and is currently touring the country performing a one man show titled Undisputed Truth.
Trevor Berbick
Sport: Boxing
Year(s): 1992
Charge: Sexual assault of his children's babysitter
Outcome: Berbick was no stranger to the court room, and for this crime was sentenced to five years in prison. He ended up serving just 15 months of his sentence, before being released and subsequently deported multiple times. He made a lot of enemies over the years, and in 2006 was murdered by a member of his own family.
Christian Peter
Sport: Football
Year(s): 1993
Charge: Third degree sexual assault on Natalie Kuijvenhoven, a former Miss Nebraska
Outcome: Peter pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 18 months' probation, but unfortunately this was but one of many horrible assaults he committed. He was accused of (although never tried for) raping a freshman girl twice in as many days during his time at Nebraska, along with numerous other criminal misdeeds.
Cornelius Bennett
Sport: Football
Year(s): 1997
Charge: Sexual assault of a 26-year-old woman
Outcome: Bennett pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of sex abuse and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. He ended up serving 36, and his victim was later implicated in a massive crack cocaine ring.
Ken Wilburn
Sport: Basketball
Year(s): 1998
Charge: 20 counts of aggravated sexual assault, sexual assault, endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated criminal sexual contact for molesting six girls between the ages of 11 and 15
Outcome: Wilburn pleaded guilty to two counts of official misconduct after he admitted touching the breasts of a 12-year-old and a 15-year-old who were not his students (as if it would have made a difference if they were?). He was sentenced to eight years in prison and was barred from ever teaching again.
Anthony Mason
Sport: Basketball
Year(s): 1998
Charge: Two counts of third-degree rape of two girls aged 14 and 15-years-old
Outcome: Mason pleaded guilty to two counts of endangering the welfare of children and was sentenced to 200 hours of community service, steadfastly denying any wrongdoing in the incident. Prosecutors were unable to link any DNA evidence to Mason, buoying his argument and leading to the deal.
Phil Taylor
Sport: Darts
Year(s): 1999
Charge: Indecent assault on two women, aged 23 and 25
Outcome: Who knew that darts players also got into mischief? Taylor was found guilty and fined £2000 for the incident. Perhaps more significantly, he was stripped of his title of Member of the Order of the British Empire following his conviction.
19. Mark Chmura
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2000
Charge: Sexual assault of his children's babysitter
Outcome: Chmura was acquitted of child enticement and third-degree sexual assault. He did admit that his action at the after-prom party in question "wasn't something a married man should do," but that was as far as he went.
Lorrie Wilmot
Sport: Cricket
Year(s): 2000
Charge: Rape of a 13-year-old girl
Outcome: Wilmot was sentenced to 12 years, with three being suspended after an appeal. With his prison stint set to begin, in 2004 Wilmot elected to take the easy way out and committed suicide rather than face the consequences of his actions.
Ruben Patterson
Sport: Basketball
Year(s): 2000
Charge: Attempted rape of his child's nanny
Outcome: Patterson pleaded guilty, and received a one year prison sentence of which all but 15 days were suspended. It did not deter him from continuing to break the law, however; he was subsequently arrested in separate incidents for assaulting a man who keyed his car, punching his wife, failing to register as a sex offender, and recording a DUI.
Brian Banks
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2002
Charge: Rape and kidnapping of Wanetta Gibson
Outcome: Banks pleaded no contest and served over five years in prison. After he was released, the victim friended him on Facebook and later admitted to fabricating the whole story. Banks was exonerated and profiled on Real Sports, among other programs, and is now pursuing his professional football career.
Abram Elam
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2003
Charge: Sexual battery of a 21-year-old woman
Outcome: Elam was convicted and given an 18-month suspended sentence and two years of probation for his role in a case that saw five football players charged. He was acquitted of conspiracy to commit rape and criminal deviate conduct, and has gone on to a decent NFL career.
Kobe Bryant
Sport: Basketball
Year(s): 2003
Charge: Sexual assault of 19-year-old Katelyn Faber
Outcome: The infamous incident in Eagle, CO continues to be shrouded in mystery. Although the charges against Kobe were dropped in 2004, he issued a lengthy apology and settled the victim's civil suit outside of court in 2005. While the exact details of the incident remain unknown, Bryant has managed to recover pretty much all of his endorsements and general public goodwill in less than a decade.
Trevis Smith
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2005
Charge: Aggravated sexual assult for knowingly exposing multiple women to HIV
Outcome: The deplorable Smith was convicted and sentenced to five and a half years in prison. He was released after serving two years, being deported back to the United States where he tried to start a career as a high school football coach. Unfortunately for Smith (but fortunately for the kids), high schools do not typically encourage sexual assault, and after his employer learned of his past Smith was summarily dismissed.
David Evans, Collin Finnerty, Reade Seligmann
Sport: Lacrosse
Year(s): 2006
Charge: Rape of Crystal Gail Mangum
Outcome: This case captured national attention and seriously impacted many innocent young men's lives. All charges were dropped and the players were declared innocent. For his negligent handling of the case and outright lying at times, prosecuting attorney Mike Nifong was subsequently disbarred and found guilty of numerous violations himself for which he served one day in jail.
"Fast" Eddie Johnson
Sport: Basketball
Year(s): 2006
Charge: Sexual battery of a minor under 12 and lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under 12
Outcome: After being kicked out of the NBA for his drug use in 1987, Johnson was convicted and given a life sentence without parole. So great was his level of depravity that Johnson committed these terrible acts while awaiting trial for a separate rape of a 25-year-old woman.
Mel Hall
Sport: Baseball
Year(s): 2007
Charge: Sexual assault of two girls under the age of 14
Outcome: Hall was convicted on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and two counts of indecency with a child, and was sentenced to 45 years in prison. Somehow, he will be eligible for parole after 22 years and four months, when he will be 70-years-old.
David Meggett
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2007, 2010
Charge: Sexual assault of a former girlfriend (2007); burglary and criminal sexual conduct on a 21-year-old woman (2010)
Outcome: In 2007, Meggett was convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery and given two years of probation. Following his next charge in 2010, he was sentenced to 30 years in prison and is currently serving out his term in South Carolina.
Marlon King
Sport: Soccer
Year(s): 2008
Charge: Sexual assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm on a 20 year-old female university student
Outcome: King has had 14 criminal convictions on his record since 1997. Including a five month jail stint in 2002 for punching a woman in a club, breaking her nose and splitting her lip. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison and seven years on the sex offender list. He served half the sentence before being released in late 2010.
Ben Roethlisberger
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2008, 2010
Charge: Sexual assault of Andrea McNulty (2008) and a 20-year-old student at Georgia College & State University (2010)
Outcome: Like Kobe, the exact details of these two incidents will likely never be revealed. Roethlisberger settled the lawsuit regarding the 2008 case in early 2012, and charges were not brought in the 2010 case due to a lack of evidence and the accuser not wanting the public spectacle of a trial. Ben's image has nevertheless suffered, and he was suspended by the NFL without pay for the first four games of the 2010 season.
Garrett Wittels
Sport: Baseball
Year(s): 2010
Charge: Rape of a 17-year-old girl
Outcome: After gaining fame due to his prolific hitting streak, Wittels saw his character get absolutely assassinated following the rape accusation. All charges were dropped when it was revealed to be an elaborate extortion plot. He now plays in the St. Louis Cardinals' minor league system.
Lawrence Taylor
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2010
Charge: Felony third-degree statutory rape, third-degree patronization of 16-year-old Cristina Fierro
Outcome: One of the greatest linebackers of all-time pleaded guilty to misdemeanors of sexual misconduct and patronizing a prostitute, accepting the consequences of what he claimed was a consensual incident. A jury of his peers believed him, and Taylor was acquitted of assault in October 2012. Not surprisingly, LT is keeping a pretty low profile.
Keith Wright
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2011
Charge: Suspicion of home invasion and sexual assault
Outcome: Wright was found guilty and sentenced to 234 years and eight months in prison on the same day in 2012. He is currently serving out what (we can only assume) will be a life sentence in California.
Mike McBain
Sport: Hockey
Year(s): 2012
Charge: Nine counts of sexual assault of a 16-year-old girl
Outcome: McBain pleaded guilty in September to attempted sexual assault with a minor under 14 and attempted lewdness with a minor under 14. He was sentenced to serve four to 15 years in a Nevada prison.
Ben Johnson
Sport: Hockey
Year(s): 2013
Charge: Sexual assault of a 16-year-old and 20-year-old woman
Outcome: Johnson faces charges from women for two separate incidents that occurred weeks apart. He has been banned from drinking, going out to any bars, possessing any weapons, and the Canadian county where the alleged incidents occurred other than for court-related matters.
Trent Mays & Ma’lik Richmond
Sport: Football
Year(s): 2013
Charge: Rape, distributing a nude image of a 16-year-old female classmate
Outcome: In a truly 21st-century crime, both Ohio teens were convicted and sentenced to at least one (Richardson) and two (Mays) years in a juvenile detention center. Their case will likely set a precedent for how criminal acts depicted on social media are prosecuted going forward.