The Minnesota Star-Tribune has brought to light some very disturbing details about the personal life of Adrian Peterson. Often times we believe that athletes are the image that is portrayed in the media or by the teams they are making millions times. But that is merely a facade and we rarely know what type of person that athlete is when the lights are off and the cameras are rolling.
The 6 kids by 6 women in 3 different states isn’t unusual for athletes, it is just normally overlooked as none of our business. There is no law saying you can’t cheat and spread your seeds all over the world, but with the allegations of child abuse it becomes relevant with Peterson. What is more disturbing is what the discrepancy in how Peterson is using the money from his “All Day” charity foundation. Here are the details.
Records examined by the Star Tribune show that Peterson, who was married earlier this year, has fathered at least six children out of wedlock. Two of them, a boy and a girl, were born to different mothers a month apart in May and June 2010, according to birth records.
The children live in at least three states — Minnesota, Georgia and Texas — according to court records reviewed by the Star Tribune, and according to sources familiar with his family. He met one of those children, a son, shortly before the boy died last year in South Dakota after being beaten by another man.
Three months later, he was at the center of an incident in an Eden Prairie hotel room that resulted in an accusation of rape and triggered a lengthy police investigation.
The 38-page police report details a night of drinking, arguing and sex that involved the running back, two relatives — including Peterson’s brother, a minor — and four women, in various pairs. One of those present, Chris Brown, a Peterson relative who lives with him in Eden Prairie, told police that the room was paid for using a company credit card for Peterson’s All Day, Inc.
As the night wore on, the report says, one woman who said she knew Peterson previously became upset when she saw him having sex with another woman. She started an argument that lasted at least an hour. According to the report, when she told him that she was “emotionally attached to him,” Peterson reminded her that he was engaged to another woman and had a baby.
The next day one of the women filed a police complaint that was investigated for months.
The woman falsely accused Peterson of rape and frankly she should have been prosecuted for filing false police report, but the fact a non-profit organization was paying for Peterson’s orgies is disturbing.
There is also report that Peterson’s foundation has lied about how much money are actually going to charitable organization.
The charity’s 2011 financial report showed $247,064 in total revenue, and listed just three organizations that received money. A fourth outlay, entitled simply “clothing for needy families,” listed “unknown” for the number of recipients.
In 2009, the charity said its largest gift, $70,000, went to Straight From the Heart Ministries in Laurel, Md. But Donna Farley, president and founder of the Maryland organization, said it never received any money from Peterson’s foundation. “There have been no outside [contributions] other than people in my own circle,” said Farley. “Adrian Peterson — definitely not.”
Colleen Brinkmann, the chief philanthropy officer for the North Texas Food Bank, said that while her agency partnered with Dallas Cowboys players, she could not recall ever getting money from the All Day Foundation. “Was he with the Cowboys before?” she asked of Peterson. “I’m not a football fan.”
Adrian Peterson is a Hall of Fame caliber running back, but that doesn’t mean he is perfect or that people should overlook a lot of questionable activities he has had going all the way back to college. We are all flawed individuals, but we aren’t all put on a pedestal and presented to the public as GODS.
This is just another of many of examples of why it is ok to be a fan of the play on the field, but keep the hero worship of the man or woman off the field to a minimum.