UNC football player surrenders in sexual assault case
Hillsborough, N.C. — A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football player has turned himself in on an arrest warrant for sexual battery and assault on a female student in February.
In a news release, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said Allen Anthony Artis, 21, turned himself in Wednesday morning to face two misdemeanor charges. He was released by the magistrate on a $5,000 unsecured bond.
The arrest warrant stated Artis had sex with the woman against her will when he “should have reasonably known that the other person was mentally incapacitated and physically helpless.”
Artis is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday afternoon.
The woman, Delaney Robinson, a student at the university, said Tuesday she had become intoxicated after being out with friends and was unable to consent. The Associated Press typically doesn’t identify alleged victims of sexual assault, but Robinson held a news conference, saying she had filed for the misdemeanor charges after police and prosecutors indicated there wasn’t enough evidence to pursue felony charges.
Her attorney also criticized the way campus police handled a rape kit and the questioning of Artis, a reserve junior linebacker now indefinitely suspended from the team.
Orange County district attorney Jim Woodall said no final decisions have been made on whether to prosecute, adding that the case is open and that investigators were still pursuing leads and consulting with his office in late August.