Content Warning: This article includes information about sexual assault.
NFL player Barkevious Mingo has been arrested and let go from his team after he allegedly sexually assaulted a male teenager in 2019.
According to Sports Illustrated, Barkevious Mingo, an outside linebacker who’s worked in the NFL for nine years, was arrested in Dallas last Thursday. Mingo was arrested and charged by the Arlington Police Department with indecency with a child – sexual contact. Mingo turned himself in “on his own accord in consultation with his attorney.” He has also already been released from custody after paying a $25,000 bond.
According to police records and testimony from the victim’s mother, Mingo took the teenager, who is a family member, and a friend of the teen to an amusement park. The group then went to a hotel at the end of the day. The two teens fell asleep and the victim woke up in the middle of the night to Mingo in bed with him.
While the victim thought Mingo sleeping next to him was odd, he fell back asleep. He then woke up to Mingo allegedly pulling at his underwear. Scared, the victim pretended to still be asleep as Mingo applied lotion and then simulated sex without insertion.
Again, Mingo, who is not out as gay or bisexual, later brought himself in to the police. Though, that was after the victim’s mother contacted the police in 2020. Investigators have now acquired a search warrant for purchases Mingo made for the teenagers that day, as “purchasing gifts for children is a known ‘grooming’ behavior in Child Sexual Abuse cases.” Meanwhile, Mingo has been released from his contract with the Atlanta Falcons.
In response to the charges placed against Mingo, his attorney, Lukas Garcia, says that the athlete is pleading not guilty. Garcia also claims, in the following statement released to SI, that the accusations have ulterior motives and that the Falcons rushed to judgment.
He wrote, “The allegations out of Tarrant County against my client are completely baseless. Barkevious Mingo is innocent. At this stage, our side has very limited information. What we do know is these allegations are from over two years ago and are completely untrue. Mr. Mingo is the victim of a false claim, and we believe this is motivated by money or some other ulterior motive. We are confident when the truth comes to light, my client will be fully exonerated.”
Source: Sports Illustrated,
I wouldn’t doubt that Mr. Mingo was also a virulent homophobe both on the field and in the locker room. Many of these pro football players talk a lot of hateful negative shit about gay males yet their true actions off the field completely expose their blatant hypocrisy. I hope that he has the book thrown at him in court.