SAN DIEGO — It has been one year since the alleged gang rape of a 17-year-old, high-school senior by several San Diego State University football players at an off-campus party.
The young woman, who is now age 18, filed a lawsuit against the players. No one has been arrested or charged.
Attorney Dan Gilleon represents the young woman, who accused three former Aztecs football players of raping her in a bedroom on the evening of October 16.
San Diego police investigators handed the case off to the San Diego County District Attorney’s office for possible criminal charges more than two months ago.
“I think that a criminal case is coming. My understanding is the DA has asked the police department to go back and do more work on the case,” said Gilleon.
“That’s an indication that they're not going to go the grand jury route. Instead, they're going to just have the police kind of do their job, which I don't think the police did fully. I think they handed it off real quick to the DA because they were facing media attention,” Gilleon said.
The LA Times broke the story in June. CBS 8 was the first news outlet to interview the young woman in July.
She filed a lawsuit on August 25, ten months after reporting the alleged rape to police. The suit named the three football players: Matt Araiza, Zavier Leonard, and Nowlin "Pa'a" Ewaliko.
“I really just want my criminal case to pull through and I would like to see charges filed. I think that that is the most important thing for me right now,” the young woman said in an interview with CBS News in August.
CBS 8 is not identifying her because she is an alleged victim of rape.
The woman now has a full-time job and she is looking forward to college, as the prospect of a criminal trial looms.
“I really don't think I'll fully heal from it until I get the closure of everything being done with and of everybody being held properly accountable. But it definitely is something that I'm going to be dealing with forever. I don't think I'll ever fully get over it,” the woman told CBS News.
CBS 8 obtained video that was recorded by a neighbor on the same night of the alleged rape.
The video showed large crowds of SDSU students in the street after police officers broke up a party several doors down from the house where the alleged rape took place, according to the neighbor.
City records showed officers were called to the house in the 5000 block of Rockford Drive three times in 2021 for complaints of loud parties, howling and screaming. No citations were issued in those earlier incidents.
Attorney Gilleon said he believes criminal charges will be filed, eventually.
“She walked out of that room and told her friends she was raped. She went to the police. She did a SART exam. They did pretext calls where the guys admitted it. I mean, I don't know what they're waiting for,” said Gilleon.
Gilleon said he is preparing to subpoena SDPD for DNA testing results, and SDSU for information related to the university’s investigation.
Kerry Armstrong, the attorney representing Matt Araiza, released the following statement to CBS 8:
“I am still cautiously optimistic that no charges will be filed against Araiza. After seeing numerous private investigator reports and getting a better idea of what happened (and did not happen that night), I truly do not believe that Araiza committed any crime.”
Attorneys representing the other two football players named in the civil case did not response to CBS 8’s requests for comment.
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