Florida State Official Details Sexual Assault Claims Against Football Players

According to a report from Gary Fineout of the Associated Press, the former director of the Florida State University’s victim advocate program detailed 20 claims of sexual assault and said “she was concerned that athletes get preferential treatment during investigations of misconduct.”

Melissa Ashton held the victim advocate position until August and “made the statement in a deposition given this past June in an ongoing civil lawsuit” filed by a former student against the university. Fineout also reported that Ashton said “most of the 20 victims who alleged sexual assaults by team members during the past nine years declined to press student conduct charges.”

The student who brought the civil lawsuit to the school did so because she said Florida State did not respond to her allegations that she was sexually assaulted by former quarterback Jameis Winston. Winston won the Heisman Trophy and led the Seminoles to a national title during his college career, but he was often under the public microscope because of these allegations.

Winston was cleared of any wrongdoing by Florida State following a hearing, and a Florida prosecutor didn’t press criminal charges and said there wasn’t enough evidence for a conviction.

Fineout added “Ashton estimated that her office had probably dealt with as many as 40 cases involving football players and other incidents of ‘intimate-partner violence.’”

Ashton suggested many who said they were sexually assaulted by football players did not go through with the process because of fear of retaliation based on what happened in prior cases.

A Florida State spokeswoman said the school “could not confirm or deny Ashton’s figures because her ‘communication with victims is confidential,’” per Fineout.