Michigan State freshman defensive end Auston Robertson has been kicked off the team following a charge of third-degree sexual assault.
Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon announced Friday morning that Robertson, 19, was charged in the 55th District Court one day after her office received the results of an investigation by police from Meridian Township, near Michigan State’s campus in East Lansing.
Court records indicate that Robertson is being charged with violating a part of the law that prohibits using any type of force or coercion. The maximum prison sentence for third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Michigan is 15 years.
Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio announced later Friday that Robertson is no longer part of the program.
“The criminal sexual conduct charges announced today against Auston Robertson are of the most serious nature,” Dantonio said in a statement. “Sexual assault has no place in our community. While there is an ongoing criminal process, we’re extremely disappointed that Auston put himself in this position.”
Dantonio announced last week that a player connected with an April 9 assault investigation in Meridian Township had been suspended from the team but did not identify Robertson at the time.
According to testimony of Det. Rebecca Payne from the Meridian Township Police Department, Robertson raped the young woman and continued the act after she “was telling him to stop and saying no.”
After his girlfriend drove them to the woman’s apartment, Robertson said he was going to walk his accuser to the door to see that she got home safely, then he entered the apartment. At one point, Payne said, he stopped abruptly and told the woman that she couldn’t tell anyone about what he was doing.
The detective said Robertson did not provide a statement when she contacted him a couple of days after the incident.
In January 2016, Robertson was formally arrested on battery charges stemming from an incident when he improperly touched a female student at his high school in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Robertson entered a diversionary program for those charges last March and finished his probation last month.
He temporarily delayed signing a letter of intent with Michigan State while sorting through those legal issues. He played seven games as a true freshman for the Spartans last fall and made three tackles.
Dantonio explained the team’s recruitment of Robertson during the statement issued Friday.
Click HERE For The Full Article!