MILWAUKEE — A Green Bay Packers player and two women who accused him of sexually assaulting them made such contradictory statements about what happened that it would be difficult to prosecute the case, the police chief overseeing the investigation said Monday.
Lake Delton police Chief Tom Dorner said he expected to forward the investigation’s findings to the district attorney’s office by today.
But he would not recommend to prosecutors whether to press charges, as police often do.
Dorner said he thinks prosecutors would have a hard time making a case against the player, who has not been arrested and who police have declined to name.
“I think it’s going to be a problem because there’s too much information that contradicts between the alleged victims and the alleged suspect,” Dorner told The Associated Press by phone.
Police were called to a Lake Delton condo early Saturday where seven Packers players were staying during a weekend charity golf event.
Two Milwaukee women, ages 31 and 33, who had met the players hours earlier at a bar reported that they had been sexually assaulted by more than one man, police said.
Police said all of the players had been drinking alcohol.
The women and the one player were in a room together, but authorities said it’s not clear whether the women had been drinking.
Police interviewed the players and cleared six of them but interviewed the seventh — the player found in the room with the women — a second time before releasing him.
“We didn’t think we had enough probable cause to make an arrest,” Dorner said.
Authorities have said it’s not clear why the initial report claimed more than one man was involved.
The six players who were cleared were quarterback Matt Flynn, linebackers Clay Matthews and Brad Jones, fullback Korey Hall, guard Josh Sitton and safety Khalil Jones.
The NFL and team are closely watching the case, which follows an off-season sexual assault investigation involving one of its stars, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Prosecutors did not charge Roethlisberger in that case, but the league suspended him for six games April 21 for violating its personal conduct policy.
Matthews, who participated in a charity softball game on Sunday along with several other players, expressed frustration about being linked to the investigation.
“All we were doing is being asked to talk about a specific incident and that’s what we did. It’s unfortunate and it aggravated us a bit, but you just have to put it behind you and move forward,” Matthews said.