University of Southern California linebacker Osa Masina was charged with three felonies in Utah, including rape, just days after being suspended from the football team, officials said Thursday.
The sophomore, who had been listed atop USC’s preseason depth chart as the No. 1 weak-side linebacker, stands charged with rape and two counts of forcible sodomy, stemming from a July incident in the Salt Lake City suburb of Cottonwood Heights, said Salt Lake County Chief Deputy District Attorney Blake Nakamura.
Masina, a 19-year-old Salt Lake City native, turned himself in to the Cottonwood Heights Police Department on Thursday morning and bail was set at $250,000, said Lt. Dan Bartlett. He arrived at the police station with his attorney, Greg Skordas, the lieutenant said.
No court date has been set.
Skordas told CNN Thursday afternoon that his client remains in the Salt Lake County Jail. The attorney hadn’t seen “a single page of any police reports or evidence” and couldn’t comment yet on the prosecution’s case, he said.
He did say, however, he felt the bail amount was high for a “first-time teenage offender,” even if he was charged with three first-degree felonies that each carry prison terms of five years to life.
Suspended from team
On Tuesday, the Daily Trojan, the campus newspaper, reported that Masina was removed from campus after he and teammate Don Hill were suspended from the football team.
The pair had not been allowed to play in their team’s first two games. Head coach Clay Helton had little to say about the matter during a Pac-12 media call Tuesday.
“As you know, we had already confirmed that Osa and Don would not be playing in our first two games,” he said. “Under the university’s further guidance, it has been decided that they have been suspended from participation with our football team. Any questions related to that should be directed to the university.”
A statement from the school said federal privacy laws dictate that no further details could be provided.
The allegations
According to a probable cause declaration, a 19-year-old woman named “K” said she was at a party in Cottonwood Heights, consuming alcohol and marijuana, when she accompanied Masina, who she has known for years, and two other men to a fast food restaurant.
It was early in the morning on July 26, and she felt “not all there,” so she didn’t go inside with the three men, the document says. She fell asleep in the car, the men returned, they drove back to the party and “K” either passed out or fell asleep.
“According to K, she woke up to find Masina on top of her. His erect penis was in her anus, which ‘hurt [her] so bad,'” the probable cause declaration states.
Because she was intoxicated, she could only move her legs to lessen the pain, and she passed out again as Masina continued to have intercourse with her, the declaration says.
She woke up again to find Masina forcing himself into her mouth, to the point that she had difficulty breathing, she told investigators. She tried to push him away and passed out again, according to the document.
She woke up, her throat in pain, and tried to call a friend and his father to pick her up but couldn’t reach either of them, so she left the house, frightened, the document says.
“The next thing she could remember was waking up late in the morning in the front yard (of the home next door to where the party was held),” it says.
“K was hunched against a tree with only her bra on and the blanket over her.”
Second assault?
When she got home, she learned she was bleeding from her anus and had damage to the porcelain crowns on her back teeth, according to the document.
In an interview with authorities, Masina acknowledged having intercourse with the woman, the probable cause declaration says.
She alleges this was the second time Masina had raped her. On July 14, she traveled to Los Angeles to visit Masina, who gave her alcohol, marijuana and two Xanax “bars,” she told police, according to the probable cause declaration.
In that encounter, she alleged, she woke up to Masina putting his penis in her mouth while one of Masina’s friends had sex with her from behind. She had consented to neither, she told police.
“This evidence suggests that the Utah incident was neither a one-time event nor a spontaneous occurrence, and therefore raises concerns about the safety of others with whom the defendant may have contact,” the declaration states.
Asked about the July 14 allegation, Officer Drake Madison, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesman, referred CNN to an August 30 statement in which authorities acknowledged interviewing Masina. The nature of the interview was not disclosed.
According to the Daily Trojan, police served Masina with a search warrant to seize his iPhone and DNA samples August 25.
