Former Baylor University defensive end Shawn Oakman, a one-time NFL hopeful who went undrafted after he was arrested a few weeks before the draft, was indicted on a sexual assault charge Wednesday.
A McLennan County grand jury indicted the 24-year-old third-team All-American on one count of sexually assaulting a Baylor graduate student in an alleged incident at his James Avenue residence April 3.
Oakman, who graduated from Baylor in December, is Baylor’s all-time sack leader. He told police detectives that the sexual relationship was consensual, and his attorney, Michelle Tuegel, said Oakman and the woman had “numerous consensual sexual encounters that occurred over a period of time before the alleged incident on April 3.”
“Shawn Oakman maintains his innocence in regard to the recent accusations made against him, and he insists that the sexual relationship in this case was consensual. It is unfortunate that this situation has been lumped in with other events that are unrelated,” Tuegel said, referring to Baylor’s recent sexual assault scandal, in which several other now-former Baylor football players have been convicted for, or accused of, sexual assaults in recent years.
“It is important that we not rush to judgment. Every citizen accused of a crime in this country is presumed innocent unless the state proves the accused offense beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law. We look forward to vigorously defending Mr. Oakman and presenting the facts involved in this situation.”
Waco police searched Oakman’s residence April 3 looking for evidence to support the woman’s claims that Oakman sexually assaulted her between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. that day. Police also executed search warrants for his DNA and his cellphone.
A police affidavit for the search warrant said police were looking for clothing the woman left behind at Oakman’s duplex, as well as earrings, blood, semen, bodily fluids, hair, skin cells, DNA, bedsheets and other items.
Court documents indicate officers seized two comforters, a fitted sheet and a flat sheet from Oakman’s bedroom.
The woman went to the hospital after the alleged assault and was examined by a sexual assault nurse examiner, according to the court records.
The affidavit, drafted by Waco police Detective Sam Key, said the woman met Oakman at a Baylor- area bar on Speight Avenue and Oakman asked her if she wanted to go to his residence. They walked to Oakman’s duplex, and Oakman “forced” her into a bedroom, according to the affidavit.
Oakman “forcibly removed” the woman’s clothes, forced her onto the bed and sexually assaulted her, the affidavit alleges.
The woman left, but told police she left her panties at the duplex and lost an earring in the bedroom.
Oakman sent a message on his Twitter account at 8:06 a.m. April 3 that said, “The devil will come and try to strip you of everything you worked for.”
Oakman did not live up to his preseason hype last season, which he finished with 14½ tackles for loss and 4½ sacks. He finished his Baylor career as the school’s all-time leader in sacks with 17½ and second on the tackles-for-loss list with 46.
He was invited to play in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama, and was a third-team All-American defensive end in 2015.
A few weeks after his arrest, additional police documents showed he was investigated after his former girlfriend complained he assaulted her in 2013. Oakman was not arrested after that alleged incident.
Oakman was dismissed from his first school, Penn State University, in 2012 for shoplifting and a violation of team rules. The 6-foot-8, 287-pound defensive end went to high school in Lansdowne, Pennsylvania.
Former Baylor head football coach Art Briles gave Oakman a second chance, but Briles suspended Oakman for the team’s season opener against SMU this past season for unspecified rules violations.
