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Recorded conversation Utah's Stevenson reportedly admitted statutory rape
Updated: Thursday June 21, 2001 1:43 AM
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- Utah Jazz rookie DeShawn Stevenson was charged with statutory rape after the 14-year-old girl's mother accused him of having sex with her daughter. The 20-year-old Stevenson surrendered to police Tuesday night and was charged with statutory rape. He was released on $5,000 bail. According to court records, Stevenson admitted to the girl's mother in a tape-recorded telephone call that he had sex with her daughter. Stevenson, a backup guard who went directly to the NBA from high school last year, is charged along with former high school teammate DeShawn Anderson, 19. A hearing was set for July 6. The girl told police the two and another former teammate took her and a 15-year-old girl to a motel June 6 after buying a bottle of brandy. According to the report, both girls said they got drunk on alcohol served by Stevenson. The 14-year-old said she had consensual sex with Stevenson and later passed out, while the 15-year-old said she had consensual sex with Anderson, the report said. Also in the room at the time was Richard Millsap, a former high school teammate of Stevenson and Anderson, whom the 15-year-old said did not participate in the sex. Everyone left the motel together and the girls were dropped off at the 15-year-old's house. The 14-year-old's mother, who was worried because her daughter was late, found her at her friend's house and picked her up. The mother called police after her daughter told her what had happened. The mother later confronted Stevenson in a telephone call that was recorded, the police report said, and Stevenson admitted he had sex with the woman's daughter and said Anderson had sex with the other girl. Stevenson also admitted providing the alcohol. The 14-year-old and her family have known Stevenson and Anderson for four years. Stevenson faces up to three years in prison if convicted. Stevenson could not immediately be reached for comment. No one was home at his parents' house where a purple Jazz flag was hanging. Anderson, who has an unlisted number, also could not be contacted. At a news conference Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Jazz officials said they didn't know enough about the case to take action. Jazz vice president Kevin O'Connor said nobody in the organization has spoken with Stevenson. "Should he have been in a position that supposedly he was in? No. Do we know what that position was? No. So to support him or to say he was wrong, I don't want to say either one until we know more," O'Connor said. Stevenson's agent, Rob Pelinka, would not comment. Stevenson's lawyer in the case, Roger Litman, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press. Stevenson played in 40 games for the Jazz as a rookie, averaging 2.2 points and 0.7 rebounds. He was placed on the injured list March 2 with tendinitis in his right knee and was reactivated April 11. This is the second time Stevenson has run into legal trouble in Fresno since he was drafted in the first round by Utah last year, the 23rd pick overall. On the night he was drafted, he was involved in a brawl at a high school all-star basketball game in neighboring Clovis. Stevenson, who did not play in the June 28 game, said he was jumped by five men after signing autographs. He pleaded innocent to charges of fighting in a public place. Stevenson is scheduled to be in court Monday for a trial in that case.
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