Baker football player suspended after he and and a woman were accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old
A Baker University student athlete has been suspended from the school’s football team after he and a woman were accused of sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.
The man, 20, and the woman, 19, both of Gardner, were arrested June 23 and booked into the Douglas County Jail. They were released later that day and both face a single felony count of aggravated indecent liberties with a child.
After the university learned of the man’s arrest an internal investigation was launched, said Chris Smith, the school’s director of marketing and communications. While under investigation the man will not be allowed to participate in any football activities, including the team’s summer conditioning, Smith said.
The woman is not a student at Baker University, according to the school’s registrar.
On March 28, 2015, the woman’s 18th birthday, she and the girl went to dinner to celebrate, according to arrest affidavits filed in Douglas County District Court.
An arrest affidavit is a sworn document filed by police to support an arrest. Allegations in an affidavit still must be proved in court.
While at dinner, the woman texted the man to arrange a sexual rendezvous, the affidavits say; however, the teenager was still with the woman and said she was uncomfortable with the idea. The woman told the girl she didn’t “have to participate,” according to the affidavits.
After dinner the woman and the teenager went to the man’s apartment in the New Living Center, 614 Dearborn St., which is student housing on Baker University’s campus, the affidavits say. There, the three watched a movie while the man and woman began kissing.
Soon, the man began kissing the teenager and the three had sex, the affidavits say. The teenager told police she did not want to have sex but felt pressured to do so.
The teenager and her mother alerted police to the incident on April 18, 2015, the affidavits say. Afterward, investigating officers interviewed both the man and the woman.
Speaking with police, the man admitted to having sex with the woman and the teenager, but said he assumed they were both the same age, the affidavits say. He told police the incident “was not what he wanted” and he thought it was “weird” and felt “misled.”
However, the woman told police later the same day that she and the man texted about having a threesome, the affidavits say. “She told (the man) that (the teenager) was not comfortable with that,” the documents say.
The woman also told police that she and the man were both aware of the teenager’s age, according to the affidavits.
Dates for preliminary hearings, where the court will decide whether there is enough evidence to order the defendants to stand trial, will be set for both the man and the woman on July 27 at 2 p.m.
The man was also arrested in February and charged with the felony of making a criminal threat. He was granted a diversion in that case in April.
The woman has no prior criminal history in Douglas County.







