Report: Nebraska Running Back Maurice Washington Faces Legal Trouble in California

Update: The following statement just came in from the athletic department:

Statement from Nebraska Athletic Department:

“Last fall we were contacted by the Nebraska Attorney General’s office and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln police department and made aware that officials in California were interested in interviewing Maurice Washington about a prior incident. Details were not shared and there was no additional follow up with the Nebraska Athletic Department. Recently, we were made aware that charges may be filed against Maurice in California. We have not had a chance to review the charges, and will continue to monitor this ongoing legal process.”

Article as originally posted follows:

NBC Bay Area has published a report in which Husker running back Maurice Washington is accused of sending a video of an alleged sexual assault to the victim, who also was his ex-girlfriend. This is the ‘revenge porn’ portion of the charges. Since the young woman was 15 years old at the time, he also face child pornography charges for distributing the video.

San Jose native Maurice Washington III did not record the video and is not part of the alleged assault involving his ex-girlfriend and two former classmates. But Washington is accused of keeping the video on his phone and sending it to the victim last March, along with the message, “Remember this hoe [sic].”

The article indicates that university officials were aware of this last fall. As for the seriousness of these charges, “revenge porn” is considered a misdemeanor while the child pornography charge is a felony.

Go read the article for yourself. Clearly, there will be a lot more published on this story in the near future.

Before I published with the above information, this tweet came out:

We live in a society now where data and information are incredibly portable and are being increasingly weaponized. Please remember we are talking about young people - teenagers. They have access to incredibly sophisticated mobile devices and tools for producing and sharing data that far outpace the level of maturity and wisdom possessed by most young people.

This is an evolving situation and we shouldn’t be in a rush to make judgments. Try to avoid personal attacks, victim blaming or name-calling in the comments. It is hard to read between the lines when posting brief written messages like these and they can be misconstrued. If you aren’t sure what someone means, ask for clarification rather than attacking.

As always, we’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available. We will be looking for comments from Coach Frost and the university administration about the situation.