Prosecutors: Former NFL Punter Matt Araiza Wasn’t Present at Rape — Victim’s Allegations Destroyed His Career

Former Buffalo Bills player Matt Araiza was thrown out of the NFL after he was accused of being part of a gang rape while he was attending college. But now, prosecutors admit that Araiza was not even present during the alleged incident and he has been cleared of all charges.

Araiza was one of three defendants in a lawsuit filed last August that alleged he had participated in the gang rape when he was a student at San Diego State University.

The civil lawsuit alleged that the incident occurred at an off-campus party when the accuser was 17 years old and under age. Araiza’s attorney immediately called fraud on the claims. “It’s a shakedown because he’s now with the Buffalo Bills,” attorney Kerry Armstrong told the Los Angeles Times. “There is no doubt in my mind that Matt Araiza ever raped that girl.”

Despite Araiza’s insistence on his innocence, though, the Bills immediately released him as the claims of rape hung over his head.

But it appeared that the case was already starting to collapse in Dec. when authorities said that they did not have enough evidence to arrest Araiza and charge him with rape.

Now, prosecutors have even gone so far as to say that Arazia wasn’t even present during the alleged rape.

After a ten-month investigation, a newly released 200-page transcript reveals exculpatory evidence that says the former punter wasn’t even present during the supposed incident, according to Yahoo News.

The investigation revealed that not only had Araiza left the party an hour before the incident was alleged to have occurred, but video taken of the sexual encounter between the woman and two men doesn’t even prove that the woman was forced into sex acts at all.

In addition, the girl who alleged rape claims in her lawsuit that she was drunk and the men took advantage of her. However, police say witnesses — including some of the girl’s own friends — say she did not appear drunk at the party.

Police also found witnesses — again, including her own friends — that said the girl told them that she had an encounter with the player and that she seemed to be bragging about it.

“The witnesses say … that shortly after you arrived at the party, you left and came back shortly thereafter,” district attorney Trisha Amador said according to the document. “And you told [a friend], ‘I just had sex.’ … You didn’t appear unhappy. You appeared to be having fun and that the encounter on the side of the house with Matt, suspect Araiza, was consensual.”

DA Amador also said that witnesses told police that the accuser had told several people at several different times that she was 18 and not an under-aged 17.

All of this led authorities to dismiss any claims that neither Arazia nor the other two men were involved in any illegal sexual acts. The investigation led them to refuse to file any charges against any of them.

But all this comes far too late to save Arazia’s NFL career. He was kicked out of the league only days after the lawsuit was filed last year and he has been blackballed ever since. Arazia’s attorney says that, now that this exculpatory evidence has finally been made public, he the NFL will reconsider Arazia’s status.

Meanwhile, the civil lawsuit alleging rape is continuing because a civil suit does not require the same stringent standards of proof.

But will the NFL, the media, and the accuser and her attorneys be held responsible for destroying this young man’s reputation and his pro football career just as it was getting started by leveling false accusations against him?

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