Colorado Football Scandal Widens

UPDATE: Cops are investigating allegations from another student who claims that she was sexually assaulted by a CU football player, according to police reports released today. The woman has told investigators that she met her attacker at a Boulder bar in August 2002 and walked home with the man and a friend of his (who was also a scholarship athlete). The woman told cops she "believes she may have been drugged" before being assaulted in her home. Police took DNA samples from the suspect late last year and the case remains open.

FEBRUARY 19--Add another rape claim to the swirl of lurid allegations engulfing the University of Colorado's powerful football program. Days after former kicker Katie Hnida went public with a claim that she had been sexually assaulted by a teammate in 2000, Boulder cops released the report at left detailing an alleged September 2001 rape by a CU football player. The name of the athlete has been redacted from the report and the woman, whose identity is also shielded, declined to press charges after disclosing the incident. The Boulder report quotes CU football coach Gary Barnett as telling the victim that he would "take care of this problem" and make sure the alleged attacker "got treatment." He also reportedly told the woman he "would back his player 100% if she took this forward in the criminal process." Barnett, 57, was placed on paid administrative leave yesterday while an independent panel reviews a host of serious allegations leveled at the Division I program. (6 pages)