Former Bethel University Football Player Charged With Sexual Assault
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Gideon Erhabor - a former running back for Bethal University - has been charged with sexually assaulting three female students.
The 21-year-old, who is currently held in his hometown of McKinney, Texas, allegedly assaulted the women between Sep. 11, 2018, and Oct. 6, 2019.
According to the criminal complaint, on June 21, 2019, a 19-year-old woman reported to Ramsey County deputies that she had been sexually assaulted by Erhabor in a Bethel University dorm. They had met a few days before and had snapchatted for a couple of days when he asked her to come to his room and watch a movie. She said yes and went to his room, though she told him she did not want to have sex. However, he ignored her, forcing himself on and sexually assaulting her. When he was done, he took her back to her dorm.
In the second case, Erharbor sexually assaulted a 22-year-old Bethel student on Dec. 8, 2018 at a house party on Lexington Avenue. She had gone to the party with three of her friends at approximately 10:30 p.m. She remembered walking around for about half an hour before blacking out, waking at 11 a.m. the next day at her friend's apartment.
When she woke, she recalled feeling groggy, queasy, and experiencing vaginal pain. The woman's friends said she had disappeared for about an hour at the party and reappeared looking highly intoxicated. They brought her home around 1 a.m.
According to the complaint, she only has flashback memories of her time at the party, including a memory of Erhabor on top of her, and a memory of walking down a street alone. When she snapchatted him the next morning, asking "Did anything happen last night?" and "Do I need anything?" Erhabor responded: "I used a condom. You're fine." Ramsey County deputies received a report about this case on June 22, 2019.
In the third case, a 20-year-old Bethel student reported Erhabor had sexually assaulted her on Oct. 7, 2018, at a house party in Roseville. She drank two strawberry flavored drinks and went outside at 2 a.m., but was not clear on what happened after that. The next morning, she woke at her friend's apartment, wearing only a T-shirt and no underwear.
On Nov. 30, 2018, Erhabor came to her room uninvited and climbed into bed with her. She told him she wasn't going to do anything sexual with him, but then Erhabor added that it wasn't like he had not seen "it" before.
When she asked him what he was talking about, Erhabor said they had sex in a bathroom on the night of the October party. He thought she didn't like it because she had fallen asleep. The woman realized she had been unconscious and told Erhabor to get out of her room.
Ramsey County deputies interviewed Erhabor on Aug. 5, 2019, at an ice cream shop in McKinney.
He admitted to meeting the first woman and watching a movie together in his dorm. However he said they engaged in sexual foreplay but then stopped, offering to take her home. When she allegedly refused, they engaged in sexual activity.
When asked about the second incident, Erharbor said he was drinking before he got to the party and was approached by the woman. He said he had a condom and asked if it was alright to use it. According to the complaint, Erharbor said she consented and as they were having intercourse, she began to have second thoughts. He said he stopped, leaving her outside.
Erhabor said he met the third woman during their freshman year in the dining hall. He had seen her at parties and she always came onto him sexually. A number of times before the assault, he asked her to go out with him. However every time he asked her to have sex, she refused. He admitted to having sex with her at the October house party in a bathroom but denied she was asleep, claiming she was talking. He did not recall sending her a message saying she was asleep, charges said. If he did, he said it was a stupid thing to say and likely the result of his "dark sense of humor" and that "I make jokes like that."
The second and third women filed reports with Bethel University against Erhabor in April 2019.
If convicted, Erhabor could serve 15 years in prison for each crime.
