The parents of fired Buffalo Bills kicker Matt Araiza are defending their son against the gang rape allegation that cost him his NFL job.
In a statement provided Monday to KUSI in San Diego, where Araiza was raised, a message attributed to “Mr. and Mrs.” Araiza begins by declaring their 22-year-old son is innocent until proven guilty and complains “he has been tried by the media.”
The couple alleges that information provided by an unidentified woman and her attorney — who claim in a civil suit that Araiza was one of three men who sexually abused the alleged victim when she was 17 — is being reported unfairly.
“He has been extorted, discriminated against, harassed and the subject of multiple and continuous threats of violence and death,” that statement claims. “He has been released from his job and our entire family continues to receive horrific threats of violence and death. We have all been canceled. Every member of our family.”
Araiza’s family blames social media and national news media for their troubles.
Their statement was also published by a WKBW 7 reporter in Buffalo where Araiza, known as “Punt God,” was kicked off the team Saturday after winning the starting punter position days earlier. He was expected to be a factor on a Bills team favored to compete for a Super Bowl championship that has eluded the organization for more than a half-century.
In their statement, Araiza’s family claims “salacious rumors grew as facts” against the star athlete and that “multiple” witnesses refute his accuser’s account of what she said transpired in the San Diego State University star’s apartment in October.
“The legal system is designed to find facts and make decisions,” the Araiza family’s letter concludes. “They should be allowed to do that.”
Araiza’s alleged victim, now 18, filed a lawsuit on Thursday claiming the kicker was one of three football players who sexually assaulted her for 90 minutes after she was served a drink that “not only contained alcohol, but other intoxicating substances” at an off-campus gathering.
The alleged victim’s attorneys said they contacted a Bills lawyer after the team drafted Araiza in April, but the team did not take any apparent action until their lawsuit was filed last week. Representatives for the victim reportedly went to law enforcement after the alleged assault, though no charges have been filed at this point.
KUSI reports that San Diego-based defense attorney Kerry Armstrong expects his client will still play in the NFL.
“I 100 percent do not believe that he ever forcibly raped this girl or had sex with her while she was passed out or drunk or anything like that,” Armstrong said.
His accuser told CBS News she had “no idea” who Araiza was when she reported the alleged assault to authorities almost immediately. She said it made her feel “sick to her stomach” to be accused of including him in her civil suit to make money.
