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All TCU. All the time.

TCU 360

Settlement reached in TCU suit over rape charges

A former Texas Christian University coed on Friday settled her lawsuit against the school concerning allegations that she was sexually assaulted by three Horned Frog athletes five years ago, attorneys said.

The woman’s attorney, Susan Hutchison, said the terms of the settlement are confidential. However, she said her client, who no longer attends TCU, is happy to have the matter resolved “so she can move on with her life.” The woman will continue to pursue claims against the three athletes, Hutchison said.

George Haratsis, an attorney for the university, wrote in an email to The Associated Press Friday night that TCU had “satisfactorily resolved” the suit and would make no further comment.

The settlement was reached three days before the case was scheduled for trial in Fort Worth.

The woman said in October 2006 that she was drugged and raped in a campus dormitory by two TCU basketball players and a member of the football team.

The athletes were indicted on sexual assault charges and expelled from the university for violating a policy against inflicting bodily injury or emotional harm. However, the charges were later dropped by the Tarrant County district attorney’s office. Prosecutors have declined to disclose a reason for their decision.

The lawsuit charged that the university engaged in fraud by telling the woman when she was considering attending the school that it didn’t recruit “miscreant” athletes.

Court records filed in the case detailed how the football player, Lorenzo Jones, and one of the basketball players, Virgil Taylor, entered the university with criminal histories and remained with their respective programs even when their academic work and conduct were called into question.

TCU, in its court filings, called the incidents cited by the plaintiff “blown out of proportion.”

The woman is identified in the suit only by her initials. The AP generally doesn’t identify people who allege that they were sexually assaulted

 

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