Update: In August of 2016, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard had decided not to prosecute cases referenced below. See https://www.ajc.com/news/local/declines-bring-charges-georgia-tech-morehouse-rape-cases/fqMxHIYoovZ570G0fSKqCM/ for details.
Channel 2 Action News has learned that at least three Morehouse College athletes are charged in connection with a rape.
The three men play on the college's basketball team. A player on the college's football team has also been charged in a separate rape case.
Attorney Jackie Patterson told Channel 2's Tom Jones his client, Chukwudi Ndudikwa, never touched the victim and will be vindicated.
Jones talked to students from the Morehouse campus about the allegations and they told him they are appalled that something like this could happen on campus.
"It's sad and it really hurts me as a student and those are my Morehouse brothers," student Dominique Merriwether said.
Two Spelman College students, in two separate incidents, accused the four of rape. The allegations stunned Spelman students.
"To know that it was somebody, a Spelman sister, somebody so close, is very frightening," Spelman student Lorraine Levels told Jones.
In the first incident, police said Morehouse basketball players Malcolm Frank and Shukwudi Ndudikwa raped an 18-year-old female student on campus in the East Suites in March.
Tevin Mgbo faces kidnapping, reckless conduct and sodomy in the attack.
"My client never touched the alleged victim," Patterson told Jones Wednesday. She said the alleged victim was drunk and high the night of the alleged attack.
"This was a case where a young lady used very bad judgment by being high on Molly, which is a form of powdered Ecstasy," Patterson said.
Police believe someone placed the drug in the student's drink.
In the second incident, also in March, the female student complained Lucien Kidd, a Morehouse football player, raped her off campus, and then is accused of saying, "Did I lose a friend?"
Levels told Jones she is proud the students didn't let the athlete's popularity silence them.
"And so to come forward knowing there's going to be a lot of scrutiny is very commendable," Levels said.
A friend of the victim in the on-campus incident said she was acting strange and so out of it she didn't know who he was that night.
An attorney for another one of the students facing charges says he's surprised that this case is even being prosecuted.
In a statement to Channel 2 Action News, a representative from Morehouse College said, in part, "After the information was brought to the attention of campus police, the suspects were identified and arrested.
"While we cannot speak to specifics of these cases, our policies and procedures call for disciplinary actions against students who violate our code of conduct and the law, up to and including dismissal from the college.
"Morehouse has a zero tolerance policy related to violence of any kind. Violence is the very antithesis of the Morehouse ethos and the values of a Morehouse Man.
"Morehouse College police are working with the Fulton County District Attorney's Office and will continue to do so until these cases are resolved."
