San Diego State College mentioned Thursday there have been “no findings” in opposition to NFL hopeful Matt Araiza within the faculty’s investigation into an allegation that Aztec soccer gamers raped a then-17-year-old woman at an off-campus home celebration.
The varsity clarified that Araiza was not a named respondent in its investigation, which centered on whether or not anybody had violated the college’s scholar code of conduct.
Araiza is one in every of three former Aztec gamers accused in a civil lawsuit of sexually assaulting the teenager at an October 2021 home celebration close to the campus.
All three males deny the allegations and say any contact with the teenager was consensual. Araiza was 21 years previous on the time.
SDSU mentioned Araiza had given the college permission to touch upon the investigation, and confirmed he was not a named respondent.
Authorities from the college declined to remark or share specifics on others who could have been named as respondents to the investigation, nor wouldn’t it converse to the result of proceedings or selections. They did say that “not one of the former college students named within the civil swimsuit at the moment are the topic of an energetic investigation.”
Not one of the former gamers named within the lawsuit is at the moment enrolled on the faculty.
The college’s investigation was separate from the police investigation, which began when {the teenager} reported her allegations to San Diego police.
Police investigated for a number of months. In December, the county District Lawyer’s Workplace introduced it will not file felony fees in reference to the investigation.
Throughout an audio recorded assembly hours earlier than that announcement, the prosecutor who reviewed the case defined the choice to the girl, who had since turned 18.
The prosecutor additionally advised the girl that after viewing brief sexually graphic video clips of an encounter in a bed room, she couldn’t show forcible rape. The prosecutor additionally couldn’t show anybody knew the teenager was underage or might have been too intoxicated to provide consent.
Araiza was not in any of the movies, in line with the prosecutor, who mentioned a witness mentioned Araiza had left the celebration a couple of half-hour earlier than the alleged assault within the bed room.
On Tuesday, Araiza advised the Union-Tribune that he “was by no means within the bed room,” nor had he been inside the home. He mentioned he and {the teenager} had consensual intercourse in a aspect yard, and he believed she was 18 years previous on the time.
Araiza’s lawyer issued an announcement Thursday that his shopper “may be very happy with the finality of this dedication and that it’s official that he has now been formally exonerated of any wrongdoing or fees associated to the SDSU inside investigation.”
“He knew all alongside that severe false allegations had been made in opposition to him,” mentioned Dick Semerdjian, who’s representing Araiza within the civil swimsuit.
Lawyer Dan Gilleon, who represents the girl who reported she’d been raped, mentioned earlier this week that the audio recording “doesn’t vindicate (Araiza) within the slightest.”
Gilleon has mentioned the assembly together with his shopper was designed to clarify to her why prosecutors weren’t submitting fees — the federal government has to show fees in a felony case past an inexpensive doubt — and so the main focus was on info that could possibly be seen as unfavorable, somewhat than on details that help her case.
The lady’s civil swimsuit is pending.
Semerdjian mentioned Araiza is “hopeful to renew his standing as a proud and distinguished Aztec soccer program alumni as he continues his efforts to return again to the Nationwide Soccer League.”
Araiza was named the nation’s high collegiate punter in 2021; he set an NCAA document with a 51.19-yard punting common.
The Buffalo Payments picked the Rancho Bernardo Excessive College graduate within the sixth spherical of the 2022 NFL Draft — the primary time in additional than 30 years that the staff had used a draft decide to acquire a punter. Inside days of the civil lawsuit publicly accusing Araiza final August, the Payments dropped him.
