A University of Miami football player was released on bond Thursday after he was arrested for allegedly raping a woman on campus, police said.
Jeffrey Brown, 19, surrendered to Coral Gables Police Wednesday and has been charged with sexual battery.
Brown, a redshirt freshman defensive tackle from Illinois, allegedly attacked the unnamed woman while she was drunk and sleeping, authorities said.
Police said Brown initially denied even having sex with the woman, but then admitted to it after detectives caught him sending text messages to a friend to get rid of his underwear.
Brown refused to comment about the case after his release from a Miami-Dade jail.
Attorneys hired by Brown's family denied the rape allegations late Wednesday.
"Jeffrey Brown did not engage in any criminal conduct whatsoever on the evening in question," the statement from Chicago law firm Durkin & Roberts read. "His family ... stands by him wholeheartedly, and looks forward to Jeffrey having his day in court so that he can clear his good name."
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UM officials wasted little time taking action in the serious matter.
"The University of Miami has become aware of the serious charges made against a student athlete, and he has been suspended indefinitely from the football program," UM said in a released statement.
The rape allegations come as UM undergoes a change in its atheltic programs after recently hiring a new athletic director and new head football coach.
This incident isn't the start coach Al Golden had in mind.
After a night of drinking on April 30, the woman, who was at her girlfriend's dorm, allegedly knocked on Brown's dorm room across the hall to use his bathroom, an arrest report stated.
Police said Brown and the woman were friends.
After throwing up in Brown's bathroom, she passed out on his bathroom floor and the 6'3, 295 pound athlete escorted the woman back to her friend's house.
He returned around 4 a.m. to check on the woman, police said.
"As the victim was sleeping, [Brown] pulled off the victim's blanket and got on top of her," the arrest report stated. "He then removed the victim's underwear."
The woman told Brown to stop, but he continued and had sex with her against her will, she told police.
When questioned by police, Brown denied the allegations, but when presented with evidence, he changed his story and admitted to having sex with the woman, police said.
Brown also allegedly sent several text messages to his roommate while being interviewed by police Wednesday. He asked the unnamed roommate to "dispose of his underwear," the report stated.
Police later retrieved Brown's underwear and took them into evidence.
Brown is currently being processed at the Miami-Dade County main jail.
Since Golden took over for Randy Shannon as head coach, six UM players have been suspended for breaking team rules and the Miami Herald reports several recent on campus incidents involving football players could lead to more suspensions.
