US charges Nigerian basketball player with rape

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A US-based Nigerian basketball player, Daniel Adegboyega, has been charged with first-degree rape by forcible compulsion in Alabama after police accused him of sexually assaulting a woman in his apartment.

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According to a report by WVTM 13 on Monday, sighted by PUNCH Metro on Tuesday, the 21-year-old was arrested in July by the Jacksonville Police Department at his apartment in Jacksonville, Alabama.

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Adegboyega, who recently joined Jacksonville State University’s men’s basketball team ahead of the new season, is being held at the Calhoun County Jail without bond.

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The report added that court records showed the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement had placed an immigration hold on him.

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Investigators told the court that the alleged victim visited Adegboyega’s apartment on July 28 to watch a movie.

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During the visit, the report said, she allegedly sent a secret text message to her roommate after Adegboyega made unwanted sexual advances.

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After several unanswered calls and text messages, Adegboyega reportedly answered one of the roommate’s calls using the woman’s phone and claimed she was in the bathroom.

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Concerned for her safety, the roommate contacted the Jacksonville Police Department to request a welfare check.

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Officers reportedly arrived at the apartment around 2 a.m. and found the woman visibly distressed.

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The police subsequently took statements from both Adegboyega and the alleged victim and collected evidence, including the woman’s trousers, which reportedly had bloodstains.

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The report stated that the woman alleged Adegboyega forcibly raped her twice that night, but he denied using force.

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He was said to have been taken into custody that night and has remained in the Calhoun County Jail.

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During a bond hearing, ICE agent Ty Unruh testified that Adegboyega entered the United States on an F-1 student visa that expired in 2023.

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According to the report, Unruh said that if Adegboyega is granted bond, he would be transferred to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana to begin immigration proceedings that could lead to his deportation to Nigeria.

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However, Adegboyega’s host father, Ryan Parlee, disputed the immigration testimony, describing it as inaccurate.

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According to the report, Parlee said Adegboyega attended high school in Iowa for four years and graduated in 2022 without returning to Nigeria.

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He argued that the immigration issues stemmed from a family trip to Mexico in 2022 and later worsened after Adegboyega transferred from the University of South Florida to UC Riverside.

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Parlee further alleged that UC Riverside failed to file the required immigration documents before Adegboyega’s transfer to Jacksonville State University this summer, resulting in his visa’s lapse.

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Adegboyega has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

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