This has become as much a tradition in the lead-up to the NFL draft as Mel Kiper’s hairstyle being mocked: damning, off-the-field news breaking about a possible first-round pick.
The latest emerged on Tuesday — two days before the first round of the draft — when TMZ reported Ohio State cornerback Gareon Conley has been named in a police report by a woman who claims he raped her in a Cleveland hotel.
A police report filed in Cleveland that was obtained by TMZ Sports states a 23-year-old white female told police Conley sexually assaulted her in a hotel suite bathroom on April 9.
Conley — whom the Jets, who have the sixth pick, had in for a visit — had not been charged with a crime as of Tuesday afternoon, and vehemently denied the allegations through his attorney. Kevin Spellacy called the allegations “ludicrous and ridiculous” and the attorney added, “In my opinion, this young lady is an opportunist and it’s actually despicable.”
Conley, according to multiple reports, has decided not to attend the three-day draft in Philadelphia. He was one of the top-rated players the NFL invited to attend and was scheduled to be in Philadelphia.
According to the police report, the accuser said she met Conley in a hotel elevator around 3 a.m. and he brought her back to his hotel room, where she claimed Conley asked her to have a foursome with another friend of his and a woman. The accuser said she declined and offered to watch the other couple have sex in the hotel room bathroom instead.
The woman said Conley then unbuttoned her pants and began to have sex with her against her will, before kicking her out of the hotel room.
The woman called 911 and described her assailant as a “black male who wouldn’t take his sunglasses off and had an Ohio State tattoo on his left forearm.”
The woman said she went to a local hospital, where a rape kit was administered. But when an officer tried to speak with her at the hospital, she refused to do an interview.
According to the report, two of Conley’s friends who were in the hotel room were interviewed by police and told police Conley never hooked up with the woman and said she was just mad that she got kicked out of the room. One of Conley’s friends said the two had been lying on the bed together, “but nothing happened.”
Conley was not in the room when police arrived, and his friends said they did not know where he went.
Early Tuesday, cryptic rumors of a potential rape allegation involving “a top NFL Draft prospect” began circulating on Cleveland19.com, but the prospect was not named and the report made it clear the player had not been charged with a crime and strongly denied the allegations.
Later in the day, TMZ identified that prospect as Conley.
With teams scrambling to obtain last-minute facts on the incident, there is the question of how the allegations will affect where Conley is drafted. Most mock drafts have Conley going within the top 10 picks. If he falls much lower than projected or even out of the first round, Conley could lose millions of dollars.
Following news of the alleged incident, Conley’s Ohio State teammate Marshon Lattimore, a fellow cornerback and also a projected first-round pick, posted on Twitter: “So the first thing you say to a girl that you meet in the elevator is let’s have a foursome? Lol that doesn’t even make sense.”
Lattimore added, “It’s crazy how these females are nowadays, they most definitely prey on you and try to ruin you.”
Conley re-tweeted the post and commented, “Lord knows!”