Orchard Park, N.Y. (WGR 550) - The Los Angeles Times published an article late Thursday afternoon pointing out a civil lawsuit that has been filed in California State Court accusing three San Diego State University football players of gang raping a 17-year-old girl last year at an off campus party.
One of the players at the center of the accusations is Buffalo Bills rookie punter Matt Araiza.
According to the Times article, "Araiza’s name surfaced in connection with the rape allegation in, at least, one report made by student-athletes within days of the party to San Diego State officials through an anonymous campus reporting system."
According to the lawsuit filed on Thursday, the alleged incident took place in the early morning hours of Oct. 17, 2021.
The Bills released a statement regarding the claims against Araiza:
“We were recently made aware of a civil complaint involving Matt from October 2021. Due to the serious nature of the complaint, we conducted a thorough examination of this matter.
As this is an ongoing civil case, we will have no other comment at this point.”
According to one report, the Bills were made aware of the accusations against Araiza a month ago. The report also says the Bills were not aware of the situation when they drafted Araiza back in April, but were aware of it when they decided to cut veteran punter Matt Haack on Monday, awarding the rookie punter the starting job.
Shortly following the release of this article, Attorney Dan Gilleon, representing Jane Doe and the lawyer who filed the civil suit, released a statement to ESPN:
Since the statement released by Gilleon, the attorney has taken to Twitter to post more evidence not only calling out Araiza, but also attacking his attorney, Kerry Armstrong. He's posted such information as text conversations between himself and Armstrong, and even journal entries from her client detailing graphic events that took place on the night of the alleged incident.
The criminal investigation in this incident is still ongoing.
The 22-year-old was drafted in the sixth round (180th overall) in this past year's draft after a 2021 season where he was named a Unanimous All-American at punter with the Aztecs.
Araiza did make the trip with the team to Carolina, as the Bills are scheduled to wrap up their preseason schedule on Friday against the Panthers.
Stay tuned for the latest developments on this story...
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