Ex-Auburn tight end Landon Rice abruptly left the Tigers football program shortly before Auburn’s 51-14 win over Arkansas State, which led Coach Gus Malzahn to cite personal reasons for his departure. Now, more details are coming to light as an incident report filed with the Auburn Police Department on July 27th accuses Landon Rice of 1st degree rape.
According to the report, the alleged incident occurred on April 12th at a residence hall across from the Auburn athletic complex. Rice has not been arrested or charged with a crime and the case is currently in inactive status. However, the case being placed in inactive status does not mean the investigation is closed.
On Sept 12th, a 19 year old female filed a restraining order against Rice, which is around the same time frame that Rice left the team.
Here are more details from the Ledger-Enquirer:
A 19-year old female (name withheld by the Ledger-Enquirer to protect her identity) filed a protective order against Rice on Sept. 12 with the Circuit Court of Lee County.
The plaintiff filing the petition with the court makes the same allegation of sexual assault, and seeks a protection order from abuse in fear of “retaliation from a Title IX investigation.” Title IX is a comprehensive federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or activity. This includes incidents of sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination and sexual violence.
The law requires schools to take immediate steps to address any sex discrimination, sexual harassment or sexual violence on campus to prevent it from affecting students further. The filing was assigned to judge Steven T. Speakman, who issued a temporary protection order on Sept. 15 until the initial court hearing for the protection order, which is scheduled for 9 a.m. Oct. 4.
A spokesperson for Auburn’s athletic department declined comment when asked what the university and athletic department knew about the July incident report filed with the Auburn police department. They also declined to discuss whether Malzahn was made aware of the allegations and if Rice’s departure was a direct result of an ongoing investigation into the incident by the university’s Title IX office.
“Any questions regarding law enforcement matters should be directed to law enforcement authorities,” the spokesperson said. “In addition, by matter of policy and practice, we wouldn’t discuss any issue regarding the privacy of students.” Auburn’s police department is required to notify the university of sexual assault allegations designated as mandatorily reportable by Title IX and the Cleary Act. All crimes that occur on university property are shared with university officials.
Rice was one of nine freshmen from Auburn’s 2016 recruiting class to enroll early in January, allowing him to practice with the team through the spring. The freshman was on the roster when fall camp opened on Aug. 2 and practiced with his teammates during training camp.Rice is the second player this fall to be the subject of a Title IX complaint. Former Auburn running back Jovon Robinson was accused of domestic violence, but the accuser in that case later recanted the accusation.