NELSONVILLE, Ohio (AP) – A former high school football player found delinquent in the rape of a 16-year-old girl wants to play at the community college level.
A statement from Hocking College spokeswoman Michelle O’Brien confirmed that Trent Mays will be attending the college for the fall 2015 semester and will be on the football team, which is just starting up.
Mays, a former Steubenville High School student, also was found delinquent of using his phone to take a photo of the nude victim. Mays, now 20, will not be permitted to live in campus housing due to his past crime.
The housing policy states in part, ”Any student who has been designated as a sexually violent offender, sexually oriented offender, sexual predator, child-victim predator, habitual sex offender, or habitual child-victim offender, or of any similar classification by any state or country, is not eligible for housing in any residence hall.”
Mays was released in January after serving a two-year sentence in an Ohio Department of Youth Services facility.
Hocking College President Dr. Betty Young said everyone deserves a second chance, although second chances don’t excuse prior behavior.
”He will not be treated differently than any other Hocking College student,” Young said. ”He will have the same rules and responsibilities that all students have, and, additionally, he will be held to the high expectations our athletic director and coaches have set for all student athletes.”
Young said Mays has successfully completed everything that the juvenile justice system required of him.
Mays and another student were convicted of raping the West Virginia girl following an alcohol-fueled party in 2012. His lawyer said when he was released from the youth facility: ”He is an extremely promising young man, eager to prove himself on behalf of his family and his community.”
The girl’s family and their attorney said they hoped Mays and the other student maintain higher standards of morals and values as their rehabilitations continue.
The other student received a one-year sentence and rejoined the football team.
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