Jermain Taylor subject of police probe

Boxer accused of sexual assault

Jermain Taylor, right, is under investigation after a woman reported to police that Taylor sexually assaulted her Friday night.
Jermain Taylor, right, is under investigation after a woman reported to police that Taylor sexually assaulted her Friday night.

— Former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor is under investigation after a Mississippi woman reported to police that the boxer sexually assaulted her Friday night during an evening when they used drugs and quarreled inside a Maumelle motel room.

Maumelle police said Taylor, 33, has not been charged in the incident, but they confirmed he had been at the hotel after speaking to its manager.

The woman told police she drove to the hotel to have sex with the boxer from Little Rock for money but they began fighting and she was hurt after fleeing from the room, according to a copy of a police report provided to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

The 27-year-old woman, who faces drug-possession charges, made the report Saturday morning while she was being treated for injuries at Baptist Health Medical Center in Little Rock.

Neither the police nor the report disclose when the woman said the assault took place.

At 9:24 p.m. Friday, three police officers were called to the America’s Best Value Inn, at 14325 Frontier Drive, where the woman - whose name is redacted in the report - said she had been in an argument with Taylor.

The woman told police that Taylor, whom she claimed to know since 2006, planned to pay her $2,000 for “sexual relations” and that the two smoked marijuana in their hotel room before the argument started, according to the report.

In addition, she told police “she had been coming up here weekly” to meet with Taylor, and “the last time she was here he had paid her $2,000.” He also reimbursed her for gas necessary to fill up her Cadillac, the report said.

She told police that she tumbled down a flight of stairs after fleeing the room, and an officer noted in the report that the woman’s left “ankle was swollen, and she sustained scrapes on that ankle that were bleeding.”

Lt. Jim Hansard, a police spokesman, said police do not know how the disagreement began, nor do police know how long Taylor and the woman had been at the hotel.

“We are going to address that when we speak with her again, which will be today,” Hansard said Monday afternoon.

It’s also unclear if Taylor, who is 2-0 after a 26-month layoff, has provided a statement to police or has talked with detectives in the investigation.

“I don’t know if we contacted him at this point,” Hansard said. “I would release it if I knew.”

Taylor (30-4-1) did not return calls Monday seeking comment.

The woman called police from the hotel lobby, where officers said she “appeared to be intoxicated due to smoking marijuana and she was somewhat disoriented.”

Officers went to the room to find Taylor, and although the room was empty, they “could detect a strong odor of marijuana.” The manager told police Taylor had left before they arrived on the scene, according to another part of the report.

A search of the room turned up an unmarked pill bottle filled with 16 tablets of Lortab, a painkiller that is a controlled substance. The woman admitted to taking a tablet 45 minutes before police arrived on scene, according to the report.

The woman was charged with possession of a controlled substance, a class C felony, and transported to police headquarters, where she refused treatment for her injuries, according to the report.

The woman said Taylor paid her $500 to have oral sex with him, according to the report.

She told police she did that before the altercation, and officers found five $100 bills in her possession, according to the report.

Prior to the search of the room, the woman told police she drove from Mississippi with two friends, named “April and Asia.”

Hansard said police are in the process of trying to locate the two other women.

“That’s part of the investigation,” Hansard said. “I’m sure the detectives’ office will be addressing that, but I can’t answer any questions or discuss it.”

Officials at the Pulaski County jail would not take her into custody after her arrest because of injuries to her left ankle, and the woman was taken to Baptist Health for treatment, according to the report.

“She was not taken to jail by us,” Hansard said. “She was given a criminal citation by us and released at the hospital.”

At 6:30 a.m. Saturday, officials at the hospital’s emergency room contacted a Maumelle police sergeant to notify officers of the woman’s report that she had been raped by Taylor, according to the report.

Taylor has been married to his wife, Erica, a former Louisiana Tech basketball player, for eight years and they have three children.

In February 2007, two lawsuits were filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court accusing the fighter of improperly coming into contact with two Little Rock women, causing “emotional distress and mental suffering.”

Both cases were dismissed with prejudice - meaning they could not be amended and refiled - within four days of each other April 2008, according to court records.

In July 2011, Taylor was involved in a public dispute with his mother, Carlois Reynolds, at an intersection 1 mile from her home in Maumelle.

It was unknown what started the fight, but Reynolds told police that she did not want to press charges.

On Monday, Lou DiBella, who has been Taylor’s longtime promoter, said he didn’t want to discuss what impact the accusation might have on Taylor lining up another bout moving forward.

“It’s at the point where it’s simply an allegation,” DiBella said. “I don’t want to address it until it’s more than that. If it is that, then has to be. But we’re at that stage where without any police action I would refuse to comment.”

Sports, Pages 15 on 05/22/2012

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