Michigan State football players Josh King, Demetric Vance and Donnie Corley are all facing charges of criminal sexual conduct and have been removed from the program.
Arrest warrants for the three players were issued Tuesday morning in the 54-B District Court in East Lansing. According to a release from the MSU police department, all three players are being charged with criminal sexual conduct in the third-degree, a felony which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. King was also charged with one count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct along with capturing/distributing an image of an unclothed person. King faces life in prison.
These charges stem from an alleged Jan. 16 incident in an on-campus apartment and follow a four-month investigation into the assault by the MSU police.
The players in the investigation had been previously unnamed and were not disclosed until the charges were officially issued Tuesday morning.
These charges came just a day after Ingham County Prosecutor Carol Siemon announced that the prosecutor’s office had decided to authorize the charges against the three players.
Following the charges, coach Mark Dantonio announced in a statement that the three individuals have been dismissed from the program, effective immediately.
“This is an extremely challenging situation that we have taken very seriously and has affected everyone in this program,” Dantonio said in a statement. “The high standards I have established for this program will not change, and the values that we teach to everyone will be enforced.”
Per the Lansing State Journal, MSU Police Chief Jim Dunlap said his department spent more 1,500 hours on the investigation, including more than 100 contacts and interviews.
“The MSU Police Department has zero tolerance for sexual assault,” he said to the Lansing State Journal. “I’m confident that this extensive investigation was completed thoroughly, and our detectives worked diligently and exhaustively in providing information to the prosecutor’s office.”
Corley played in 12 games for the Spartans as a true freshman and was selected to the FWAA’s Freshman All-America team. Corley played wide receiver and also played defensive back later in the season. He finished his freshman season with 33 receptions for 453 yards and had three touchdowns.
King played in nine games at defensive end during his freshman season last year and had ten tackles. Vance did not play in his first season on campus.
Four of the 20 players who joined the Spartans in 2016 have now been charged with sexual assault and have been dismissed from the program. Auston Robertson was also removed from the team in April after he was charged with criminal sexual conduct in the third-degree after allegedly raping a woman in her apartment.
