NFL Player, Former ESPN Host Marcellus Wiley Accused of Rape

According to a lawsuit obtained by the New York Post on Tuesday, Janine de Novais has accused a former NFL defensive end who played for the San Diego Chargers and Buffalo Bills of rape and sexual assault. As reported by the publication, the alleged incident happened when he was a student at Columbia University in 1994.

The lawsuit was filed as the federal Adult Survivors Act, which allows a year-long period to file allegations of sexual assault outside the typical statute of limitations, comes to an end. The Act expires on November 24, the day after Thanksgiving.

de Novais, who now works as a sociologist, filed the suit in New York State Supreme Court accusing Wiley, 48, of the attack when he was a sophomore. In the suit, she says that he forced himself on her in her freshman dorm room. de Novais also says she was a virgin at the time and that the assault led to a suicide attempt.

“[Wiley’s] actions were intentionally designed to cause plaintiff severe emotional distress or were taken with reckless disregard of the significant and/or substantial probability of causing plaintiff severe emotional distress,” as described in the lawsuit.

The suit also details how Wiley allegedly ripped off the girl’s clothes after inviting himself over and “forced her facedown onto the mattress.” de Novais says she was raped by Wiley several times.

It also states in the lawsuit that she reported the assault to numerous Columbia University administrators. However, de Novais says they held a “fondness” for Wiley as they were helping him build his promising future in the NFL.

Residential Dean Kathleen McDermott, who passed away in 2011, had allegedly accused the victim of misunderstanding the incident because she was born in the African island county of Cabo Verde, since “people from different cultures interpret things differently.”

As the New York Post reported, the disciplinary action taken against Wiley was academic probation and completing the Spring 1995 semester from Los Angeles, where he was from. Wiley eventually came back to the New York City campus, where he and the victim shared several classes.