June 21, 2001--
FRESNO, Calif. (AP) _ Utah Jazz rookie DeShawn Stevenson has been charged with statutory rape after allegedly admitting he had sex with a 14-year-old girl, just one year after going to the NBA from high school.
Stevenson, 20, surrendered to police Tuesday night and was released on $5,000 bail. He admitted to the girl's mother in a tape-recorded telephone call that he had sex with her daughter, according to court records. Online Poll
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The 6-foot-5 backup guard is charged along with his best friend, former high school teammate 19-year-old DeShawn Anderson who turned himself in on a statutory rape arrest warrant Wednesday evening. A July 6 hearing was set in Fresno Superior Court.
At a news conference Wednesday in Salt Lake City, Jazz officials said they didn't know enough about the case to take action.
"Should he have been in a position that supposedly he was in? No. Do we know what that position was? No. So to support him or to say he was wrong, I don't want to say either one until we know more," said Jazz vice president Kevin O'Connor.
Stevenson, a Fresno native who went to Washington Union High School in nearby Easton, faces up to three years in state prison if convicted of the felony.
He could immediately be reached by for comment, and no one was home at his parent's house.
Anderson, who has an unlisted number, also could not be contacted.
The girl _ who was not named because of her age and the nature of the charges _ told police the two basketball players and another former teammate took her and a 15-year-old girlfriend to a Howard Johnson motel after buying a large bottle of E&J Brandy.
At the motel, Stevenson checked in using his credit card _ but put Anderson's name on the register, according to a Fresno police report.
Both girls told police officers they got drunk willingly on brandy and Coke served by Stevenson. The 14-year-old said she had consensual sex with Stevenson and later vomited and passed out. The 15-year-old said she had consensual sex with Anderson.
The 15-year-old said a former high school teammate of the suspects, Richard Millsap, watched but not participate in the sex.
Everyone left the motel together the morning of June 6, and the girls were dropped off at the 15-year-old's house. The 14-year-old's mother later called police after her daughter told her what had happened.
The mother then confronted Stevenson in a recorded telephone conversation, the police report said. In that conversation, Stevenson admitted to providing the booze and having sex with the woman's daughter. He also said Anderson had sex with the other girl.
The 14-year-old and her family have known the two suspects for four years.
Stevenson's agent, Rob Pelinka, would not comment. Stevenson's lawyer in the case, Roger Litman, did not immediately return calls from The Associated Press.
This was Stevenson's second brush with the law in Fresno since he was drafted in the first round by Utah last year, the 23rd pick overall.
On the night he was drafted, Stevenson was accused of taking part in a brawl at a high school basketball game. Stevenson said he was jumped by five men after signing autographs and pleaded innocent to misdemeanor charges of fighting in a public place.
Stevenson was expected to be in court facing those charges Monday.
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