A running back for the Nebraska Cornhuskers has been charged under California’s new “revenge porn” law, after sending a sexually explicit video to an ex-girlfriend.
The running back, Maurice Washington, shared a video of his former girlfriend involved in sex acts with two other boys. The ex-girlfriend claims these acts were non-consensual. Washington did not appear in the video. However, he possessed a copy of the footage and sent it to the girl, along with a threatening message.
The sharing of the video was enough to trigger California’s new “revenge porn” law. Which forbids the sharing of any video with the intent of causing emotional damage. Also, because Washington’s ex-girlfriend was 15 at the time, he’s facing child pornography distribution charges.
“Washington and the victim dated during his freshman year at The King’s Academy High School in Sunnyvale, Calif.”
The victim, Taylor, spoke to NBC Bay Area on the condition that they not use her last name.
“I tried so hard to forget it, and then to have someone just throw it back in my face like that and taunt me with it was just so evil, Maybe that’s the wrong word to use, but I felt like it was evil, like why would you ever want somebody to feel that pain that I felt that day?”
According to USA Today, “The Nebraska athletic department issued a statement Monday saying the school has ‘not had a chance to review the charges, and will continue to monitor this ongoing legal process.'”
Washington’s attorney, John C. Ball, issued this statement on Monday.
“The narrative put forth today is that Mr. Washington used a video as a weapon to re-victimize his former high school girlfriend. That is not true. Without a doubt, Mr. Washington had absolutely nothing to do with that sexual assault. The communications between these two young people are yet to be fully determined, and there are additional facts and circumstances that give context and perspective to this situation.”
Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn
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