3 Football Players Charged With Rape

Three Antelope Valley College football players were charged Tuesday with raping an intoxicated 14-year-old girl at a Lancaster apartment in October, but prosecutors decided not to file charges against two others who may testify.

David A. Brown, 20; Bradley J. Cole Jr., 20, and Gene D. Washington, 22, were arraigned in Antelope Municipal Court on one felony count each of unlawful sexual intercourse. The three Lancaster residents were released without bail. Brown pleaded not guilty, the only one to enter a plea.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Chesley McKay said there was not enough evidence to charge former player Eric Price, 20, and there was no evidence that current player Charles Slayton, 20, participated in the Oct. 5 assault.

According to court records, the players contend that the girl initiated the activity and told them she was 18. The high school student claimed that she was forced to drink and later resisted their advances. McKay said that Brown and Cole admitted having intercourse with the girl but Washington denied it.