Ducks football coaches decided to sign a man accused of groping a female student – while declining to recruit another man accused of the same crime – after conducting interviews with the two recruits, Athletics Department spokesman Dave Williford said Tuesday.
Williford wouldn’t discuss the details of the recruits’ interviews but said the Athletics Department was forced to rely solely on the interviews because a Department of Public Safety officer wouldn’t release any information about the investigation when staff contacted her on Jan. 30.
“We wish we had had more information and in hindsight, we should have,” Williford said.
Marvin Johnson, 18, of Compton, Calif., and Major Marquis Culbert, 18, of San Pedro, Calif., were arrested and charged with sexual abuse and burglary in connection to an alleged incident the night of Jan. 14. They are accused of entering a Barnhart Hall room and groping two female students.
After the coaching staff learned of the alleged incident, the department stopped recruiting Culbert, who eventually signed with Nebraska, but continued recruiting Johnson, who signed with the team on Feb. 1, based on information indicating that Johnson wasn’t directly involved, according to a May 24 Athletics Department press release.
A Eugene Police Department report released Friday contained interviews with the women saying that Johnson and Culbert groped them.
The staff still hasn’t seen a copy of the police investigation, Williford said.
Johnson’s status with the football team depends on him being cleared of the charges, according to the May 24 press release.