Jacksonville Jaguars defensive lineman Marcell Dareus is being sued by two different women for sexual assault.
On Wednesday evening, News 4 Jacksonville spoke with Dareus' attorney, Steve Weizenecker, who declined to comment on a lawsuit filed by a Texas woman identified only as Jane Doe, who alleges that Dareus sexually assaulted her and exposed her to a sexually transmitted disease. Doe accuses Dareus of having sex with her while she was unconscious and a failure to disclose that he had a sexually transmitted disease.
The lawsuit states the following, per News 4:
The complaint states Dareus and his accuser went on a date in Houston April 7 that ended with them spending the night together at a hotel. It says that when the woman woke up in pain the next day, she could not recall what happened the night before, but Dareus told her they had sex.
It goes on to say that Dareus saw the woman the following two days and the pair had sex on multiple occasions. Later the same week, the complaint argues, the woman came down with symptoms of herpes and went to see a doctor, who diagnosed her with the disease.
The accuser's attorney stated that he is unaware of any criminal charges that have been filed in the case at this point.
This is not the only sexual assault case in which Dareus is involved. He is set to appear in court on Aug. 9 to have his motion to dismiss a case filed by an unidentified woman heard. The woman alleges that in January 2017, Dareus assaulted her at a rented property in Tampa, Florida, two days before the college football national championship game.
According to the Tampa Bay Times, the suit alleges the following:
The lawsuit, filed by an unnamed plaintiff in Circuit Court in Hillsborough County Circuit, states that she met Dareus at a downtown Tampa club on Jan. 7, two nights before the championship game, and was invited to an afterparty at the mansion rented by Dareus.
The party there had "10-12 strippers" and "30-40 persons in total," including other unnamed NFL players. The party had "alcohol, marijuana and cocaine open and visible" and "offered up to partygoers," according to the lawsuit.
The suit alleges that Dareus "grabbed her breast and attempted to put his hands between her legs," and that she resisted his advances and told him to stop. She had been drinking and "blacked out," but recalled being guided down a hallway to the master bedroom with Dareus behind her. She said she woke up in bed with her clothes disheveled and Dareus unclothed and asleep next to her, and "began to immediately realize that there had been sexual physical acts upon her person."
The suit states that she left the room and got a ride back to her Tampa hotel, was "emotionally distraught" and stayed in her room, flying to Los Angeles on Jan. 9. She initially kept the details of the incident private, "due to embarrassment and self-guilt."
There is no record of criminal charges being filed in the case, and when contacted by the Tampa Bay Times for comment, both the Jaguars and Dareus' representatives declined to do so.
Aside from the civil proceedings brought by the two women, the NFL seems likely to conduct its own investigation of the allegations, which could lead to Dareus facing some form of discipline from the league office.
