I will admit I had forgotten all about this and it speaks to how depending on the situation some things can be sweep under the rug.
The main differences between the Sanchez case and Roethlisberger cases, is that Ben has been accused multiple times. Also Roethlisberger was in his mid 20s when these accusations were coming out (28 at the time of his last one) and he was in the NFL.
So it isn’t surprising that his accusations garnered far more attention than the Sanchez’s case which happened when he was 19 and a redshirt freshman at USC, that wasn’t a household name yet.
Deadspin revisits what happened the night Sanchez was accused:
In April 2006, Mark Sanchez was arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. He was 19 years old, a redshirt freshman who was considered the next Matt Leinart at a time when that actually meant something good. But Sanchez went out one night (using a fake Arizona ID that listed his name as “Jordan Traver Uttal”), and he apparently did a good bit of drinking, and at some point the following day a female USC student felt compelled to call the police. Here’s what the Los Angeles Times reported.
Los Angeles Police Department officers took the 19-year-old redshirt freshman into custody about 4 p.m., after a female USC student told police she had been sexually assaulted by Sanchez in the early morning. Sanchez, from Mission Viejo, was arrested at the Cardinal Gardens apartment complex at 3131 McClintock Ave.
Sanchez was never charged, and the case dropped a couple of months later after investigators determined there was a lack of evidence. (Medical examinations of Sanchez and the alleged victim were inconclusive on “the issue of force,” as the Associated Press put it. Prosecutors said it was “essentially a ‘one-on-one’ allegation.”) Sanchez went on to earn the starting job in his junior season and was picked fifth overall by the Jets in the 2009 NFL Draft.
Just like with the Roethlisberger’s case the evidence and witnesses weren’t strong enough to even charge Sanchez with any crime.
The circumstances as we pointed out above explains why they are treated differently, but it doesn’t matter if you are 19 or 28, if you committed a sexual assault that says a lot about you as a person even if you do get away with it.
But I still live by the premise innocent until proven guilty, so Sanchez deserves the benefit of the doubt especially since he hasn’t been in any trouble since that time.
Maybe he learned the lesson that it took way too long for Roethlisberger to learn, if there is any question just walk away.
