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BOCA RATON – A December night filled with booze, drugs and controversial sex prompted FAU starting quarterback Chris Robison’s suspension from spring practices, a source confirmed to OwlAccess.com.
Police affidavits obtained through a public records request show that an unidentified female FAU student filed a police report accusing Robison of sexual battery following that Dec. 3 night, then later elected not to press charges.
“We take any accusation of sexual assault seriously and will pursue all appropriate measures to ensure FAU’s campus remains one of the safest in the nation,” FAU wrote in a statement issued late Friday. “The player in question remains suspended from the team and will continue to be so until further notice. The university will make no further comment at this time.”
FAU coach Lane Kiffin never specified what prompted Robison’s spring suspension, sticking with the violation-of-team-rules explanation.
The accuser said she was partying off campus with Robison and fellow teammates Ernest Bagner, Will Tuihalamaka and Joe Pohiva. She arrived drinking a vodka drink, later switched to gin and finished the night with Hennessey. The group also passed a marijuana joint.
While she vividly described some of the night’s happenings, the accuser told police that her memory from the end of the night is foggy at best. She has some recollection of being carried into the backseat of a car which drove her back to Robison’s on-campus dorm room.
Once inside the dorm room, Robison and the unnamed female partook in sexual relations several different ways. Robison said the sex was consensual. The accuser said she didn’t consent. About a week after filing her complaint the accuser told police she was no longer certain that she didn’t consent and didn’t want to press charges. That decision came after the accuser talked with Robison.
According to the police report: “During their conversation (accuser’s name redacted) was able to recall that she had consented to the sexual acts which occurred between Robison and herself that night. (Name redacted) withdrew her previous statement, that the sexual intercourse had been non-consensual. (Name redacted) also advised Detective Vickens on the recorded statement, that she no longer desired prosecution, and would not cooperate with further efforts towards prosecution in this matter.”
While FAU police are no longer investigating, the university likely still is. The Dean of Students office generally has the authority to investigate claims of sexual assaults which occur on campus. Their burden of proof doesn’t rise to the criminal “guilty beyond reasonable doubt” standard but rather can come closer to the “preponderance of the evidence.” The internal investigation may not need to find that Robison committed a crime to take disciplinary action, which could include expulsion.
According to the police report: “Robison admitted to knowing that (name redacted) was impaired by drugs and alcohol, and repeatedly advised that she said she was a virgin. He noticed that she was hesitant to having [sic] sex, and after knowing all of this, sex still occurred between the two.”
The Dean of Students office traditionally doesn’t comment on such investigations.
The drinking and drug portion of complaint complicate matters for Robison, who was kicked out of Oklahoma following his arrest for public intoxication and still isn’t of legal drinking age.
In the police report Robison admits under oath to drinking and smoking marijuana, which could be construed as self reporting drug use.
“Robison explained that the night of the incident Tuihalamaka, Bagner, Pohiva, (accuser’s name redacted) and he had been drinking alcohol and smoking weed (marijuana),” the report read.
Bagner exhausted his eligibility following the 2018 season. Tuihalamaka entered the transfer portal. Pohiva, a walk-on linebacker, has one year of eligibility remaining. He didn’t participate in spring practice, but it was not clear at the time of publication whether he was injured this spring, suspended or had left the team.
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