Two Ohio State football players who are accused in criminal complaints of raping a woman in a Columbus apartment complex last week have been dismissed from the team, according to a statement from Coach Ryan Day.
Defensive backs Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint, both 21 and due to be seniors next season, were arrested early Wednesday on felony charges of rape and kidnapping, according to Franklin County online jail records.
One of the men allegedly told the woman to say on a video afterward that the acts were consensual, according to court documents.
Day said in a statement, “I have dismissed Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint from our football program. I am not making any statement on the criminal charges, but it is clear they did not live up to our standards and my expectations.”
Wint’s attorney, Samuel Shamansky, said Wint is wrongfully accused.
“He’s had zero contact with the criminal justice system. He is an outstanding student and athlete. He is respectful and law-abiding,” Shamansky told CNN. “He’s cooperated completely with law enforcement and has nothing to hide.
“These false charges are outrageous and he is eager to clear his name in a court of law.”
Attorney Karl Schneider, who is representing Riep, said he is “going to withhold comment at this time.”
No bond has been set for either; both are due to be arraigned Thursday morning, according to Franklin County Municipal Court.
The alleged incident happened on the night of February 4 at a Columbus apartment complex where both Riep and Wint live, Columbus police said in two criminal complaints filed in the municipal court.
Riep and the accuser initially were having consensual sex, but she “stopped and moved away after a brief time stating she did not want to continue,” a Columbus police detective wrote in an affidavit accompanying the complaint.
Wint then entered the room, and Riep, after asking her if Wint could join them, then grabbed her by the neck, held her down and raped her, according to the affidavit.
Riep then restrained the woman while Wint forced her to have oral sex with Wint, the affidavit reads.
Riep asked her to say on video that it was consensual, affidavit says
Both men stopped after several minutes, and Riep told the woman “she needed to give her name and say it was consensual on video recording,” according to the affidavit.
Riep then recorded the woman, who asked him if he wanted to record her face, since she was crying, the affidavit reads.
Riep laughed, said no, and told her to just say it was consensual, according to the court document.
The affidavit doesn’t say anything else about what the woman said on the video.
“It’s been in Ohio as early as the mid-1850s at least, brought in as an ornamental plant because of its unique foliage and white flowers,” Gardner said. “It was actually planted in people’s landscaping, and it has been spreading.”
The men are charged with kidnapping, according to the complaints, because they forcibly restrained the victim so that they could engage in sexual activity against her will.
Warrants for their arrests were issued Tuesday, according to records from the court clerk.
Riep and Wint were largely backups this past season for the Buckeyes, whose 2019 campaign ended with a loss to Clemson in the College Football Playoff semifinals.
