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Two USC Football Players Benched For Allegedly Raping A Woman In July
(Photo by Doran via the LAist Featured Photos pool on Flickr)
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We reported earlier this week that USC linebacker Osa Masina, 19, was under investigation for allegedly raping a woman twice in both Los Angeles and Utah. Masina was temporarily suspended from the team while both LAPD and Cottonwood Heights (Utah) police investigate the allegations.
The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday night that a second USC linebacker, 20-year-old Don Hill, was named in the same investigation as Masina.
Hill and Masina are accused of drugging and raping a woman, while also recording the alleged sex-act and sending it (via Snapchat) it to the woman's ex-boyfriend, in Hill's off-campus apartment on July 14. According to a search warrant affidavit obtained by the Times, Masina allegedly supplied the woman with two pills of the antidepressant drug Xanax, supplementing a significant amount of alcohol and marijuana also consumed the night of the alleged rape. Drifting in and out of consciousness, the woman soon realized she was naked, and that Masina and Hill were both performing sex acts on her.
As the affidavit states, "she knew for a fact she could not have given consent because she couldn't move, speak or even recall much of the night's details."
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The affidavit also includes crucial information of the Snapchat video Masina purportedly sent to the woman's ex-boyfriend, a football player for the University of Arizona:
[The former boyfriend] was able to catch a glimpse of the victim's face. Victim's eyes appeared to be closed and it did not appear she realized she was being recorded... The victim did not utter any words nor was she making any sounds. [The former boyfriend] did not recall seeing any of the victim's limbs moving.
After learning about Hill's alleged involvement, USC officials chose to send him back to Los Angeles from Dallas, where USC will play Alabama later on Saturday according to ESPN.
The LAPD investigation of both Hill and Masina involves the incident that occurred in Los Angeles on July 14. Masina is also under investigation for another incident in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, that allegedly occurred on July 26. In the Utah incident, the woman said to police that she drank alcohol and ate a marijuana edible at a party with Masina. She passed out, and woke to Masina having sex with her.
No charges have been filed against either Masina or Hill, pending the ongoing investigation. LAPD deputy chief William Scott noted to the Times how the investigation is ongoing, and how "we are making further efforts to gather evidence... We need some things still to complete the work."
USC has offered little comment, saying earlier in the week that they are "aware of the investigation involving student-athlete Osa Masina."
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