Former San Diego State and Bills punter Matt Araiza was not present during a 2021 gang rape, according to a statement from prosecutors in a transcript and audio from the San Diego District Attorney’s office obtained by ESPN and Yahoo Sports.
Araiza, an All-American in ’21 and a sixth-round draft pick in 2022, was released by Buffalo on Aug. 27 after reports emerged that he had been named as a defendant in a gang rape lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleged that Araiza and two teammates gang-raped a girl, who was 17 at the time, at an off-campus party near the SDSU campus in the fall of ’21. The age of consent in California is 18.
According to the transcript, San Diego Deputy District Attorney Trisha Amador told the girl that her timeline did not line up with the evidence available to prosecutors.
“[Araiza] wasn’t even at the party anymore,” Amador said of prosecutors’ determination that the incident occurred at 1:30 a.m.—an hour after Araiza had apparently left the premises, according to a witness. The plaintiff’s attorney, Dan Gilleon, told KFMB-TV in San Diego that the witness is a friend of Araiza.
Amador informed the girl that she “cannot prove any forceable sexual assault based upon what happened” when taking into account evidence available to prosecutors, including videos of the encounter.
The San Diego Police Department investigation concluded in December, and the district attorney’s office subsequently declined to press charges.
Gilleon said his client won’t be “bullied” into dropping the lawsuit in a statement to Fox News.
“It’s not going to happen,” Gilleon said in the statement. “This case is going to trial, and we’ll force Araiza to talk.”
