Marshon Lattimore backs Gareon Conley after sexual assault accusation
PHILADELPHIA – After Gareon Conley was accused of sexual assault, the former Ohio State cornerback has now decided not to be in attendance for the NFL draft Thursday night in Philadelphia.
No warrant has been issued and no charges have been filed, as the case remains an open investigation in the Cleveland Division of Police Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit.
Former teammate and fellow cornerback Marshon Lattimore said he spoke to Conley yesterday after the police report emerged, and vouched for Conley’s character.
“Anybody who is getting accused of something is not going to be OK,” Lattimore told reporters Wednesday morning at a Play 60 event at the Shriners Hospitals for Children. “But he says he’s innocent and I feel like he’s innocent. Just knowing that, that you’re innocent but you still have to go through it – he’s losing millions of dollars right now.
“It’s not about the money, it’s about his character. But still, he worked hard his whole life to get to this point and to have it taken away that easy over an accusation. It’s hard for me, because that’s like my brother, so I’m feeling the same thing as he’s feeling. Not as (bad), you know, because it’s him.”
According to a police report, obtained by Paste BN Sports Tuesday, the incident happened in the early morning of April 9 at a Westin Hotel in downtown Cleveland.
The report states that Conley met a woman (Paste BN Sports does not reveal the identity of accusers of alleged sexual assault) while they rode the elevator, and that the woman joined him in his room. According to the report, the woman told police that Conley asked the woman to have sex with a couple that was in the bathroom, where she alleges that the assault took place shortly after.
Two witnesses in the hotel room, which was in Conley’s name, told police that an assault did not occur and Conley’s attorney, Kevin Spellacy, has called the allegations “ludicrous and ridiculous.”
“He’s a top 10 player,” Lattimore said. “No doubt in my mind he’s a top 10 player. Anybody that gets him is going to get a hard worker, and they gonna get a great player. I hope everything pans out well for him and that he’s proven innocent in this situation. That’s the No. 1 thing, to clear his name.”
In 2015, Dallas Cowboys offensive lineman La’el Collins, who was widely projected to be a first-round prospect, fell completely out of the draft (his agents asked teams not to take him after the third round) when police sought him to answer questions in a murder investigation. The Cowboys later signed Collins as an undrafted free agent.
A general manager told Paste BN Sports' Jarrett Bell on Tuesday that teams are in a holding pattern as they try to gather more information on Conley, who had been projected as a probable first-round prospect.
Follow Lorenzo Reyes on Twitter @LorenzoGReyes.
