Former Campus Athletes Indicted on Multiple Counts of Aggravated Rape, Aggravated Sexual Battery
The former players were indicted on multiple counts of rape and sexual battery.
Aug. 11, 2013— -- Three of the four former Vanderbilt football players who were indicted for allegedly raping an unconscious 21-year-old student in a dorm room on the Nashville, Tenn., campus have been arrested, authorities said.
Brandon Vandenburg, 20, of Indio, Calif.; Cory Batey, 19, of Nashville; Brandon Banks, 19, of Brandywine, Md.; and Jaborian McKenzie, 19, of Woodville, Miss., were each charged with five counts of aggravated rape and two counts of aggravated sexual battery on Friday, according to the a Nashville Police Department.
The four men are charged with raping an unconscious victim inside Vandenburg's Gillette House dorm room on June 23, police said.
Vandenburg was also charged with tampering with evidence and unlawful photography.
The incident was brought to university officials' attention after they checked the dorm's surveillance recordings regarding an unrelated matter. The footage revealed "concerning behavior by the defendants," police said.
The four former football players were dismissed from the team on June 29 and banned from campus pending a six-week investigation,The Associated Press reported.
Both Vandenburg and McKenzie were booked into the Davidson County Sheriff's Office on Saturday.
Vandenburg was taken into custody at the Nashville International Airport upon his arrival into the city on Saturday, according to a police statement. He was first taken to Nashville General Hospital for a state-mandated HIV test required for individuals charged with rape before he was booked at approximately 2:05 a.m. The former Commodores tight end is being held on $350,000 bail.
McKenzie turned himself in at 8:30 a.m. Saturday. He was also taken to the hospital for a mandatory HIV test before he was taken into custody, the news release said.
The former receiver was released after posting $50,000 bond, according to jail records.
Batey, a former safety on the team, was arrested at his Nashville home on Friday around 3:30 p.m., taken for a blood test, and then booked into Davidson County Sheriff's Office on a $350,000 bond.
Banks, who played defensive back, is still at large, police said.
"Although four people are being charged at this time, the investigation is still on-going into the actions of other individuals and the role(s) they may have played in this incident," District Attorney General Torry Johnson said in a prepared statement.
Five additional current players on the football team are listed in the indictment as witnesses for the prosecution if the case goes to trial, the AP reported.
Vanderbilt University's vice chancellor Beth Fortune said the school was "shocked and saddened by the allegations that such an assault has taken place on our campus and that they include members of our football team."
"The charges brought today against the four former Vanderbilt football players allege conduct which is abhorrent and will never be tolerated," Fortune said in a statement released today. "We will review our athletics program to be sure that it, like all other programs at the university, reflects our culture of community and respect for others and that our student athletes are held to the same high standards of conduct as all our students."
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