By JACOB POLACHECK & ADAM ZAGORIA
Emmitt Williams, 19, the five-star 2018 power forward from Oak Park (FL) High School, was arrested and charged with felony sexual battery and false imprisonment early Wednesday morning, per Rob Dauster of NBC Sports.
Williams was booked at 12:40 a.m. by the Orlando police department and held on $3,500 bond. Via the News-Press:
The affidavit said Williams acknowledged in the messages to the friend that the woman “said no to having sexual intercourse with him, however, he ignored her and continued having sex with her,” the Sentinel reported.
The incident began when Williams, 19, initially refused to let her leave the apartment when she said she wanted to go pick up her friend, according to ESPN. It is not clear in the media reports whether the friend mentioned is the same person.
The accuser, whose name is redacted from the warrant, said Williams followed her around and imprisoned her against her will. The warrant says that Williams began touching her, and she told him she did not want anything sexual to happen between them, ESPN reported.
According to the warrant, the accuser said Williams ignored her, pulled down her pants and raped her, fighting off her repeated attempts to stop him.
According to 247Sports, Williams is ranked as the No. 21 overall player in the Class of 2018. Williams was set to take his second official visit to Florida this weekend (Oct. 20), but a source confirmed that won’t happen. Williams, who named his top seven in August, took his first official visit to LSU earlier this month (Oct. 12). He was also considering Duke, Kansas, Miami, Oregon, and USC.
Meantime, an online campaign to raise funds for Williams’ legal fees has raised $850 out of a targeted $35,000 as of Saturday morning.
“Emmitt Williams is obviously a great basketball player, but an even better friend, teammate and person,” reads the ad from Generosity.com. “He is a genuinely humble guy, who is in need of our help. Let’s help a great human being through a rough time!”
