The family for the accuser in the sexual assault case involving Florida State quarterback Jameis Winston issued a statement Wednesday that said Tallahassee police said that her life "could be made miserable" if she continued to pursue the complaint.
The statement, which you can view in full here courtesy of the Tampa Bay Times, says that the woman identified Jameis Winston as the perpetrator in January, approximately a month after the incident occurred on December 7.
"We requested assistance from an attorney friend to interact with law enforcement on the victim's behalf. When the attorney contacted Detective Angulo immediately after Winston was identified, Detective Angulo told the attorney that Tallahassee was a big football town and the alleged victim needs to think long and hard before proceeding against him because she will be raked over the coals and her life will be made miserable," the family's statement said.
On Tuesday, the Tallahassee Democrat reported that the case had been halted because the alleged victim stopped cooperating with police according to the Tallahassee city manager and that the case was reopened on November 8 because of new information.
The statement said that Angulo refused to collect Winston's DNA or interview his roommate, who she says witnessed the incident because he said that "such activity would alert Winston and the matter could go public." Thus, the family said, they were under the impression that only the family and law enforcement were aware of what happened.
Thus, according to the statement, the alleged victim "was devastated" when she found out that Winston and his attorneys had been told of the matter in February.
Winston has not spoken with reporters about the matter. No charges have been filed. Per the Times in a public record request, no search warrants were executed under Winston's name, nor do any search warrants related to sex crimes match his building's address.
Florida State spokesman tells Yahoo Sports "No additional statements coming" from the school in response to Tampa Bay Times story.
— Pat Forde (@YahooForde) November 20, 2013
The family's statement ends with six questions, including one about the 11 month delay in the case and one that asks about media reports about the alleged victim's intoxication level. The family says that Angulo told the family that based off the blood work, the alleged victim was not intoxicated. The police report about the incident said that she had been drinking alcohol that evening.
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Nick Bromberg is the assistant editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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