Ex-San
Francisco 49ers player Ray McDonald charged with rape
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[August 27, 2015]
By Eric M. Johnson
(Reuters) - Former San Francisco 49ers
defensive end Ray McDonald has been charged with rape by intoxication,
and current 49ers linebacker Ahmad Brooks has been charged with sexual
battery of the same woman on the same night, prosecutors said on
Wednesday.
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The felony indictment against McDonald, marking the latest sex abuse
scandal to embroil the National Football League, stems from a
December 2014 incident at his home, according to the Santa Clara
County District Attorney's Office.
The eight-year NFL veteran faces up to eight years in prison if
convicted of the rape charge. McDonald was arrested on Wednesday and
released after posting $100,000 bail. His arraignment was set for
Sept. 25, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.
Brooks, 31, was charged separately with misdemeanor sexual battery
stemming from an alleged assault that occurred the same evening
against the same woman McDonald is accused of raping. Brooks' charge
carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail.
Prosecutors did not immediately furnish copies of the indictment
returned this week or other charging documents and declined to
detail the circumstances of the offenses.
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McDonald has said he and his accuser had a consensual sexual
encounter.
McDonald and Brooks are the latest of a string of current and former
pro football players accused of domestic abuse or sex crimes,
bringing the NFL under intense scrutiny and criticism for the
off-field behavior of its athletes.
In July, NFL free agent safety C.J. Spillman was charged with sexual
assault in a September incident at a Dallas-area hotel when he was
playing for the Cowboys.
The month before, Hall of Fame defensive tackle Warren Sapp was
charged in Las Vegas with three counts of domestic abuse months
after his arrest for soliciting a prostitute.
The grand jury that indicted McDonald declined to charge him with
felony false imprisonment and other domestic violence charges
stemming from a May 2015 incident in which he was accused of
assaulting his ex-fiancee as she held their 2-month-old child, the
district attorney's office said.
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Two days after that incident, after posting bail, McDonald was
arrested again for violating a restraining order by visiting her
residence. The grand jury did indict him on a charge of breaching
that restraining order, which carries a maximum penalty of one year
in jail, the prosecutor's office said.
McDonald was released by the 49ers in December, after he was named
as a possible suspect in the rape case. The Chicago Bears signed him
in March but released him in May after the arrest involving his
former fiancee.
Neither the NFL nor the 49ers had an immediate comment about
McDonald's indictment.
In a statement about the charges against Brooks, 49ers General
Manager Trent Baalke said the team takes any charge against its
players seriously and was "in communication with the NFL." He said
Brooks would not participate in Saturday's preseason game against
the Denver Broncos, and the team sent him home from Colorado to
California.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Additional reporting by
Steve Ginsburg in New York; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Eric
Beech and Clarence Fernandez)
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