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2 OSU football players dismissed amid rape charges

COLUMBUS — Two Ohio State University football players were kicked off the team Wednesday after being charged with rape and kidnapping.

Defensive backs Amir I. Riep and Jahsen L. Wint, both 21, were booked into jail earlier in the dafter they were charged with sexually assaulting a woman on Feb. 4 at the players’ shared apartment.ed.

“I am not making any statement on the criminal charges, but it is clear they did not live up to our standards and my expectations,” coach Ryan Day said in a statement. “The athletics department will make sure they both continue to have access to the health and well-being resources available to students and student-athletes.”

Day would not comment further.

The men were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning. It was not immediately clear whether they had attorneys.

The woman told police she was hanging out with Riep at an apartment he shares with Wint on Feb. 4 when they began to engage in consensual sex, according to an affidvait. The woman stopped and told Riep she didn’t want to continue. Wint then entered the room and asked if he could join.

Wint then allegedly grabbed the woman by her neck and raped her, she said in the affidavit. Reip held the woman down with his body while Wint forced oral sex. The woman pushed Wint away, according to the affidavit, but he again forced her to have oral sex.

After several minutes, they stopped and Riep told the woman that she needed to say what happened was “consensual on a video recording while laughing at her,” according to the affidavit. Riep then told the woman she needed to shower before driving her back to her home.

Riep is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound cornerback entering his senior season for Ohio State, while Wint is a 6-foot, 198-pound redshirt senior safety.

Riep was expected to compete for a starting job after the departures of Damon Arnette and Jeff Okudah. Wint, who got more playing time in 2018 than last season, would have been in the mix at strong safety.

The charges were a blow to a program that has avoided major off-the-field trouble as Day begins his second year at the helm. Last season, All-American defensive end Chase Young was suspended for two games after it came to light that he had accepted a personal loan in violation of NCAA rules.

Ohio State was 13-1 last season, its only loss against Clemson in a College Football Playoff semifinal. Spring practice starts March 2, and the Buckeyes open the 2020 season at home Sept. 5 against Bowling Green.

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