Evan Reed
Tigers minor league pitcher Evan Reed went on the offensive Thursday after being arraigned in the morning on third-degree criminal sexual assault charges involving a 45-year-old woman who said she was drugged and raped at the Motor City Casino earlier this year.
Reed said he'd done nothing wrong and suggested the woman could be seeking attention by going after his status as an athlete.
“She always knew who I was,” Reed said during a press conference Thursday, according to Tom Greenwood of the Detroit News. “It was no secret. That was established at the bar. I have no idea what her motive is. She’s a mother. She has children. I don’t know her life or story. I don’t care to know it at this point. Status, attention, I don’t know what her thinking is.”
He said the idea of drug use was ridiculous.
I did nothing wrong,” he said. “I did nothing that was forced. When you look at my actions, if I was guilty why would I subject myself to that. I’m in Detroit for less than five hours and I’m undergoing a polygraph. Everything I’ve had to endure mentally and physically ... my family can’t tell you how devastating this has been.”
Reed, who had been playing for the Tigers earlier in the year, was demoted to the Toledo Mud Hens.
On Thursday morning, he pleaded not guilty to sexual assault charges in Detroit's 36th District Court. Bond was set at $50,000.
Prosecutors in court papers allege that the sexual encounters involved oral and anal sex, and that Reed had "reason to know the victim was physically helpless or mentally incapable."
Ben Gonek, Reed's attorney said Thursday that his client has cooperated with investigators and passed polygraph exam, according to the Detroit Free Press.. The encounter was consensual, the attorney says.
