Roethlisberger officially a suspect in Milledgeville sexual assault

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By Marcus K. Garner and Christian Boone

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Milledegeville Police said Friday that Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is a suspect in the sexual assault of a Georgia College & State University student.

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Roethlisberger and his 20-year-old accuser visited "multiple establishments" together late Thursday night before the alleged attack, said Milledgeville Police Deputy Chief Richard Malone during a press conference early Friday evening.

The quarterback has spoken with police, said his agent who, in a statement, denies the charges leveled against his client. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation is assisting in the investigation.

The unidentified woman claims she was "sexually assaulted or sexually manipulated" by a man, police said. The woman, treated and released from Oconee Regional Medical Center, described her attacker as 6-foot-5, and 241 pounds, though she did not name Roethlisberger, who just turned 28, as the perpetrator.

Police said the incident took place between 11 p.m. Thursday and 2:30 a.m. at the Capital City nightclub at 119 South Wayne Street near downtown Milledgeville and the GCSU campus.

"He's been identified as being at the scene," Malone said.

"The woman approached one of our officers in the downtown area near Capital City saying she'd been sexually assaulted," by a the suspect described in the police report, Milledgeville Police spokesman David McNeely told the AJC.

According to various media outlets, Roethlisberger has a winter home in Reynolds Plantation, a resort community on Lake Oconee in Greensboro.

He's been accused of sexual assault before.

Last year, a woman claimed she was raped by the quarterback in 2008 in a Lake Tahoe, Nev. hotel room. Although no criminal charges were filed, the woman, Andrea McNulty, filed a civil suit against Roethlisberger to compel him to make a public admission and give her an apology and $100,000.

Return to AJC.com for more updates as they become available.