Football Star Found to Have Raped Teen, After His Dad Said ‘Lots of Girls’ Want Him

De La Salle High School. Photo: NBC

A juvenile court on Tuesday found that a former California high-school football player raped a female student from a nearby high school last year, just months after the boy’s father claimed the encounter had to have been consensual because “there’s a lot of girls that want to be with” him.

As the East Bay Times reports, the charges of rape and oral sex against the boy, who was a freshman at De La Salle High School (a private all-boys Catholic school with a nationally recognized football program), were found to be true. Juvenile wards of the court cannot be given fixed prison sentences, so while the charges against him carry a maximum confinement of ten years, the ruling means he will only potentially be sentenced to juvenile hall for the rest of his youth, the Times notes. The boy’s name is not being released because he is a minor.

The victim, who is a freshman at the all-girls Carondelet High School across the street, alleged the assault occurred on the De La Salle campus during a football game on November 18. The victim (who remains anonymous as she is also a minor) reported the assault to her principal the following Monday, and he called the police. The boy was arrested a week later, and shortly thereafter, his father decided to try to defend the boy in an interview with the Times:

“He’s tall, dark and handsome, he plays for De La Salle, there’s a lot of girls that want to be with my son. When young, fast girls see something they like, they go after it … She’s the one that basically chased my son down. They were just two teenagers having sex; they were just doing it at the wrong place, at the wrong time.”

The boy’s father is a registered sex offender who has been convicted of child molestation, but he told the Times that, “Just because my background is what it is — I’m not that type of individual, and neither is my son. I don’t want to see my son be a victim also.”

However, the girl told the KPIX 5 television station in December that she did not consent and that police have surveillance footage that captures portions of the assault. “Boys need to know that no means no, period. Point blank,” she said.

De La Salle Football Player Found to Have Raped Teen