An erstwhile member of the Temple Owls football program is facing a rather significant legal situation following an alleged incident over the Memorial Day weekend holiday, WPVI-TV in Philadelphia is reporting.
According to the television station, Owls linebacker Praise Martin-Oguike has been arrested on multiple charges that include aggravated assault, forcible rape, sexual assault, unlawful restraint and false imprisonment. As a result of the charges, Martin-Oguike has been indefinitely suspended from the football team by head coach Steve Addazio, a school spokesperson to the station.
The alleged incident occurred the night of May 26 in a university dorm room, the details of which are more than little disturbing if they’re even remotely true:Police say it was back on the night of Saturday, May 26, Memorial Day weekend, that a 21-year-old woman, a student at the university, alleges she was in Martin-Oguike’s fourth floor dorm room at Temple’s 1940 residence hall in the 1300 block of West Norris Street.
She claims the football player tried to kiss her and she told him no. The 21-year-old says she then tried to leave and Martin-Oguike allegedly grabbed her by the throat and dragged her into his bedroom where he allegedly raped and assaulted her.
She further states that he then took her downstairs and signed her out of the dormitory as if nothing had happened.
Finally, the victim says, a couple hours later, he text messaged her asking, “Are you gonna press charges?”
Another disturbing point connected to this incident is the fact that, according to two current Temple students, an email notification is normally sent out by the school to alert students of such an alleged crime. In this case, however, no alert was sent.
Martin-Oguike was a two-star member of the Owls’ 2011 recruiting class, and played in seven games as a true freshman last season.
(Tip O’ the Cap: Examiner.com)