A former Bethel University football player has now been acquitted twice of raping fellow students with one more case still awaiting resolution.
Gideon O. Erhabor, now 27, was found not guilty by a Ramsey County district judge of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with allegations from an 18-year-old student who said Erhabor sexually assaulted her in his dorm room on Sept. 11, 2018.
Judge Joy Bartscher said in her bench verdict that the woman’s trial testimony “was somewhat ambiguous, [and] she testified that she [did] not know for sure whether she said ‘no’ out loud” during what Erhabor said was a consensual act.
Dennis Gerhardstein, spokesman for the County Attorney’s Office, said, “While we are disappointed in the outcome, we respect the court’s ruling in this case. It took great courage for the victim in this case to come forward and testify.”
In October 2022, jurors acquitted Erhabor of the same charge stemming from a 21-year-old student’s allegation that Erhabor assaulted her at an off-campus house party in Shoreview on Dec. 8, 2018.
Erhabor, of McKinney, Texas, a running back for Bethel for two seasons before leaving the Christian-based private school in Arden Hills in 2018, stands charged in one other case. In the meantime, he remains free on bond.
According to the pending case against Erhabor:
A 19-year-old student said she was at a house party on Oct. 6, 2018, in Roseville and had two alcoholic drinks. About 2 a.m., she went outside and felt disoriented. Later that morning, she awoke in a friend’s apartment “totally confused.”
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