New lawsuit says former Baylor student-athlete was gang-raped by multiple football players

A new Title IX lawsuit filed this week says that a former member of the Baylor University volleyball team was brutally gang-raped by at least four, and according to some reports, as many as eight Baylor football players in February 2012.

The lawsuit says the victim played volleyball from the fall of 2011 to the spring of 2013.

The lawsuit says that Baylor officials “permitted a campus condition rife with sexual assault and completely lacking the basic standards of support for victims as required by federal and state law.”

The lawsuit claims that members of the Baylor football team hazed freshmen recruits by having them invite freshmen women to house parties.

The lawsuit said the girls would be drugged and gang raped.  It also said the gang rapes were bonding experiences for the football players.

Baylor responded to the lawsuit with this statement:

“The alleged incident outlined in the court filing occurred more than five years ago, and Baylor University has been in conversations with the victim’s legal counsel for many months in an attempt to reach an amicable resolution.

“Baylor has since initiated and structurally completed 105 wide-ranging recommendations in response to issues of sexual violence within our campus community, in addition to making changes within the university and athletics leadership and investing significantly in student support services.

“As this case proceeds, Baylor maintains its ability to present facts – as available to the University – in response to the allegations contained in the legal filing. The University’s response in no way changes Baylor’s position that any assault involving members of our campus community is reprehensible and inexcusable. Baylor remains committed to eliminating all forms of sexual and gender-based harassment and discrimination within our campus community.”

During the investigation, the plaintiff said there is at least one video of two female students being gang raped by several football players.

According to the Pepper Hamilton report, 17 victims reported allegations of assault or domestic violence by 19 Baylor football players.

The lawsuit said four of these incidents involved gang rapes that happened in 2012.

One of these gang rapes included the plaintiff of the lawsuit.

However, according to more recent reports, in the span of four years—from 2011 to 2014—there were at least 52 acts of rape, including five gang rapes, by not less than 31 different football players. 

The attorney for Jane Doe, Mo Aziz of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Sorrels, Agost & Aziz Law Firm, said that a judge had lifted the ban on access to evidence and interviews from the Pepper Hamilton report. Aziz said that due to this, they could began their own investigation into the sexual assault scandal at the university. 

"We're going to seek it. I mean, I still expect Baylor to fight it and will try to claim that it's privileged and what not, but our position is that any information that was developed by Pepper Hamilton, we should have access to it and we should have access to further information that we require," said Aziz. 

The lawsuit included this timeline of events:

• September 2003 – Ian McCaw was hired as Baylor’s new athletic director.
• September 4, 2004 – A female Baylor student was raped by a Baylor student at an off-campus residence.
• Mid-November 2005 – A female Baylor student was raped by a Baylor student in his dorm room.
• Fall of 2007 – A female Baylor student was drugged and raped by a Baylor student.
• November 28, 2007 – Briles was named Baylor’s new head football coach.
• February 6, 2008 – Briles signed his first recruiting class at Baylor.
• May 2009 – A female Baylor student was gang raped by two Baylor students.
• October 2009 – Baylor football player Tevin Elliott raped a member of the Baylor equestrian team.
• November 27, 2010 – Baylor’s football team played their last regular season game, marking the team’s first winning season since 1995.
• December 29, 2010 – Baylor ended the 2010 season with another milestone - their first bowl game appearance in 16 years.
• January 2011 – A female Baylor student was raped by Robert Cole, a Baylor student, at a party.
• April 4, 2011 – The U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights issued its “Dear Colleague Letter” to help universities such as Baylor comply with the requirements of Title IX, to explain that the requirements of Title IX pertaining to sexual harassment also covered sexual violence, and to explain the specific Title IX requirements applicable to sexual violence.
• May 9, 2011 – Robert Cole was charged for the January 2011 sexual assault of a Baylor student. He later admitted that “he had date raped” the victim.
• September/November 2011 – Tevin Elliott sexually assaulted a female community college student.
• December 3, 2011 – Baylor’s football team finished the 2011 season, winning 10 of 13 regular season games.
• December 11, 2011 – Robert Griffin III became the first Heisman Trophy winner in Baylor history.
• December 29, 2011 – Baylor beat the Washington Huskies in the 2011 Valero Alamo Bowl.
• February 11, 2012 – Plaintiff was brutally gang raped by as many as eight Baylor football players.
• March/April 2012 – Two more female Baylor students were gang raped by Baylor football players.
• March 27, 2012 – Tevin Elliott raped another female Baylor student-athlete.
• April 15, 2012 – Tevin Elliott raped another female Baylor student outside of a party at a residence near the Baylor campus.
• April 30, 2012 –Tevin Elliott was arrested for two counts of sexual assault.
• May 2012 – Plaintiff was repeatedly harassed by Baylor football players.
• July 5, 2012 – Shawn Oakman transferred to Baylor and joined the football team after he was dismissed from the Penn State football team following misdemeanor assault charges arising from a March 17, 2012 incident.
• July 11, 2012 – Plaintiff’s mother met with an assistant football coach at a Waco restaurant to discuss Plaintiff’s sexual assault. Although Plaintiff’s mother did not reveal her daughter’s name, she did provide the coach with a list of the players who were involved in Plaintiff’s sexual assault.
• September 15, 2012 – Baylor broke ground on the construction of McLane Stadium.
• December 1, 2012 – Baylor finished the 2012 season, winning 8 of 13 regular season games.
• December 27, 2012 – Baylor beat the UCLA Bruins in the 2012 Bridgepoint Education Holiday Bowl.
• January 2013 – Baylor football players repeatedly harassed Plaintiff after the assistant football coach spoke to two of the football players involved in Plaintiff’s sexual assault.
• January 10, 2013 – Shawn Oakman allegedly physically assaulted a woman at her Waco apartment.
• January 2013 – May 2013 – Plaintiff had a class with two of the football players who sexually assaulted her.
• Early 2013 – Plaintiff attended counseling sessions at the Baylor University Counseling Center and informed the counselor of the sexual assault.
• February 11, 2013 – A Baylor football player brandished a gun at a female student-athlete. An assistant football coach was able to convince the female student-athlete not to report the incident.
• February 21, 2013 – One of the football players who would later burglarize Plaintiff’s apartment began harassing her via text message.
• April 8, 2013 – Plaintiff’s apartment was burglarized by two Baylor football players.
• April 10, 2013 – One of the Baylor football players who burglarized Plaintiff’s apartment sent Plaintiff harassing text messages after Plaintiff reported the burglary to the police.
• April 2013 – Plaintiff met with Briles to report the burglary and the names of the players involved.
• April 2013 – Plaintiff and her parents met with Plaintiff’s head coach and another member of the volleyball coaching staff and informed them of the sexual assault and the players involved. Following the meeting, Plaintiff’s head coach reported the sexual assault to Briles and McCaw.
• April 18, 2013 – A member of the Baylor Bruins hostess program was brutally gang raped by Baylor football players, Tre’Von Armstead and Shamycheal “Myke” Chatman.
• April/May 2013 – Shamycheal “Myke” Chatman allegedly raped a student in the Baylor athletic training program.
• May 7, 2013 – Boise State announced that Sam Ukwuachu was dismissed from the team for an unspecified violation of team policy. It is widely reported that Ukwuachu was kicked off the Boise State football team for a previous incident of violence against a female Boise State student.
• May 2013 – Baylor’s Football Chaplain led a mission trip, which included 45 Baylor student-athletes and staff, to Kenya. Plaintiff attended the mission trip along with one of her assailants.
• May 2013 – Shamycheal “Myke” Chatman transferred to Sam Houston State University at the end of the spring 2013 semester.
• June 2013 – Sam Ukwuachu transferred to Baylor and joined the football team.
• Fall 2013 – December 2015 – A female Baylor student was sexually harassed and raped by another Baylor student in one of Baylor’s dorms.
• Fall 2013 – Plaintiff returned to Waco to visit a friend. During her visit, she met with Baylor’s Football Chaplain, and reported the sexual assault to him.
• October 2013 – A female Baylor student was sexually assaulted by another Baylor student.
• October 19, 2013 – It was Homecoming Weekend for Baylor. Baylor beat Iowa State 71-7. Later that evening, Sam Ukwuachu brutally raped a female Baylor soccer player.
• November 14, 2013 – Briles agreed to a new ten-year contract through 2023.
• December 7, 2013 – Baylor finished the 2013 season with a win against the Texas Longhorns.
• January 1, 2014 – Baylor played the UCF Knights at the 2014 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, but lost 52-42.
• January 2014 – Tevin Elliott was sentenced to twenty years in prison for raping a female Baylor student. During Elliott’s trial, four other victims testified that they had also been raped by Elliott.
• March 2014 – A female Baylor student was physically assaulted by Devin Chafin, a Baylor football player.
• April 5, 2014 – A female Baylor student was again physically assaulted by Baylor football player, Devin Chafin.
• April 7, 2014 – A female Baylor student-athlete was raped by another Baylor student.
• April 29, 2014 – The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights sent out a second Dear Colleague Letter (FAQs) with specific guidance on University compliance with Title IX and sexual harassment/violence.
• Late April 2014 – A female Baylor student was physically assaulted by Baylor football player, Devin Chafin, for a third time.
• April 26, 2014 – A female Baylor student was sexually assaulted by a Baylor football player.
• June 25, 2014 – Sam Ukwuachu was indicted on two counts of sexual assault against a female Baylor student athlete.
• August 31, 2014 – Baylor opened its $266 million, state-of-the-art McLane Stadium with a 45-0 victory over SMU.
• October 1, 2014 – Campus SaVE Act, a reauthorization of the Clery Act for University compliance regarding sexual violence, stalking, dating and domestic violence.
• November 18, 2014 – Patty Crawford became Baylor’s first full-time Title IX coordinator.
• November 2014 – A female Baylor student was sexually assaulted by another Baylor student.
• December 6, 2014 – Baylor finished the 2014 season, completing its run for back-to-back 11-2 seasons and Big 12 championships.
• January 1, 2015 – Baylor played the Michigan State Spartans in the 2014 Goodyear Cotton Bowl, but lost 42-41.
• February 4, 2015 – Patty Crawford informed certain Baylor administrators of three gang rape allegations against Baylor football players which occurred during the spring 2012 semester as well as an alleged January 2013 incident of dating violence. During the meeting, Crawford asked McCaw if he knew anything about gang rapes by football players. McCaw said no, failing to disclose the allegations regarding Plaintiff’s sexual assault that had been brought to his attention in 2013. McCaw then inquired if a football player who had information about sexual assaults could receive immunity under Title IX. Crawford said no.
• February 28, 2015 – A female Baylor student was drugged, abducted and raped at a party at “The Rugby House,” an off-campus house.
• March 2015 – A female Baylor student was sexually assaulted by another Baylor
• student.
• Early June 2015 – Baylor defensive coordinator Phil Bennett announced at a luncheon for the Baylor Sports Network that Ukwuachu was finally going to take the field in the upcoming season. At that time, Ukwuachu was due to stand trial in Waco for sexual assault in just a few weeks.
• August 19, 2015 – Former Baylor defensive end Sam Ukwuachu was found guilty of sexually assaulting a former Baylor soccer player. During Ukwuachu’s 2015 criminal trial, it was disclosed that Baylor officials had conducted an internal investigation into the assault complaint and cleared him of any wrongdoing.
• August 26, 2015 – Ian McCaw admitted that he was aware of Plaintiff’s sexual assault in spring 2013.
• August 29, 2015 – Waco police responded to a South Waco home, where a member of the Baylor men’s tennis team was named as the lone suspect in a sexual assault case.
• September 2, 2015 – Baylor University’s Board of Regents announced that they had retained Pepper Hamilton LLP to conduct a thorough and independent external investigation into the university’s handling of cases of alleged sexual violence.
• September 11, 2015 – Former Baylor Bruin and Baylor graduate reported that she had been gang raped by Myke Chatman (former Baylor football player) and Tre’Von Armstead (current Baylor football player at that time).
• September 12, 2015 – Tre’Von Armstead was held out of the second game of the Baylor football team’s season for an unspecified reason.
• September 18, 2015 – Tre’Von Armstead was kicked off the Baylor football team for what the team described as an “unspecified violation of team rules.”
• September 30, 2015 – A no-contact order was issued by Baylor’s Title IX office for Baylor offensive lineman Rami Hammad after he was accused of sexually assaulting a student in his apartment earlier in the month.
• Late October 2015 – Rami Hammad’s judicial affairs trial occurred. Hammad continued to start for the football team during the semester, playing 13 games for the Baylor football team that fall.
• December 6, 2015 – Baylor finished the 2015 season winning 10 of 13 regular season games.
• December 29, 2015 – Baylor beat the North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2015 Russell Athletic Bowl game.
• February 2016 – A female Baylor student was sexually assaulted by another Baylor student.
• February 21, 2016 – Former president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Baylor allegedly forced himself on a woman outside of a fraternity party at a house near the Baylor campus.
• March 2, 2016 – Former president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity was arrested for the February 21, 2016 sexual assault.
• April 13, 2016 – Shawn Oakman was arrested by the Waco Police Department on sexual assault charges in connection with an April 3, 2016 allegation of sexual assault.
• May 2016 – Three current football players were named in rape allegations from Baylor female students to the Title IX Office and to Baylor campus police.
• May 11, 2016 – Former president of Phi Delta Theta fraternity was indicted on four counts of sexual assault in connection with an alleged incident that occurred at a fraternity party in February.
• May 13, 2016 – Baylor’s Board of Regents advised in a press release that they had received a “comprehensive briefing from Pepper Hamilton LLP.” However, Baylor officials declined to publicly release the results of Pepper Hamilton’s investigation.
• May 30, 2016 – Baylor Athletic Director, Ian McCaw, resigned.
• June 8, 2016 – Baylor announced that football players Jeremy Faulk and B.J. Autry left the football team. Autry voluntarily withdrew while Faulk was released. Baylor officials gave no reason as to why these individuals were no longer enrolled. According to reports, Faulk was questioned about an alleged sexual assault that may have occurred in April on the Baylor campus when he was on the football team.
• July 7, 2016 – Baylor football player Rami Hammad was questioned by Baylor campus police after a Baylor professor called 911 to report that Hammad had waited for his ex-girlfriend before the professor’s class that day, then continued to attempt to contact her.
• July 20, 2016 – Shawn Oakman was indicted for second-degree felony assault in connection with allegations that he sexually assaulted a Baylor graduate student on April 3, 2016.
• August 1, 2016 – Baylor football player Rami Hammad was arrested by Baylor campus police on charges of felony stalking after his former girlfriend reported several instances in which he allegedly tracked her down, harassed her and twice physically assaulted her, including once at Baylor’s athletic facilities on campus.
• October 4, 2016 – Patty Crawford resigned from Baylor University.
• October 5, 2016 – Baylor football player Rami Hammad was arrested on a criminal trespass charge on the Baylor campus.
• October 19, 2016 – The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights confirmed that it had launched a Title IX investigation of Baylor University in response to a complaint from former Title IX Coordinator Patty Crawford.
• November 1, 2016 – Baylor publicly disclosed that since 2011, a total of 17 victims reported allegations of sexual assault or domestic violence by 19 football players. Four of these involved alleged gang rapes that were reported to have occurred in 2012.
• December 3, 2016 – Baylor finished the 2016 season winning 7 of 13 regular season games.
• December 11, 2016 – Baylor Board of Regents voted unanimously against another investigation into Baylor’s sexual assault scandal.
• December 12, 2016 – Baylor Board of Regents Reaffirms Full Confidence in Pepper Hamilton Investigation.
• December 22, 2016 – The Wall Street Journal reported that then-Baylor President Ken Starr granted a reprieve for Tevin Elliot in 2011 when the athlete was accused of academic misconduct.
• December 27, 2016 – Baylor beat the Boise State Broncos in the 2016 Motel 6 Cactus Bowl.
• January 19, 2017 – Former Baylor Title IX staffer Gabrielle Lyons told ESPN that she faced discrimination and intimidation while investigating sexual assault cases involving football players.
• January 27, 2017 – A Baylor graduate filed a Title IX lawsuit against the school, alleging a culture of sexual violence that included 52 rapes in four years. The woman said she was raped by former football players Tre’Von Armstead and Myke Chatman. The suit alleges coaching staff members, including Kendal Briles, encouraged a culture of sexual violence by arranging for women to have sex with recruits on official campus visits.

To view the entire lawsuit, read below:

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