A woman who has alleged a sexual assault at the hands of Justin Fairfax, lieutenant governor of Virginia, has said former Duke University and Los Angeles Clippers basketball player Corey Maggette raped her during her time at the university.
Meredith Watson, who alleges Fairfax raped her in 2000 while they attended Duke, calling his actions “premeditated and aggressive” before demanding his ouster, is the second woman to come forward against Fairfax. Vanessa C. Tyson, a political science professor, was the first to publicly accuse Fairfax of assault, stating she was assaulted in Boston during the 2004 Democratic National Convention.
Maggette attended Duke for a year, helping to lead the Blue Devils to the national championship game before leaving for the NBA, where he played until 2013. Now an on-air personality for Fox Sports West, Maggette denied the accusations through a spokesman on Monday.
Nancy Erika Smith, Watson’s lawyer, said her client had been raped by a basketball player during her second year, but declined to name the player. Smith was also told Watson reported her assault to a dean, but had been “discouraged” from taking the matter further.
Watson told friends years before coming forward, according to Facebook messages. R. Stanton Jones, a partner at a Baltimore law firm, said Watson told him in 2001.
“Meredith told me she had been raped twice at Duke,” said Jones, who did not attend Duke. “And she told me that one of the men who raped her was the Duke basketball player Corey Maggette. That was a name I knew because I’m a basketball fan.”
“It has only been through media accounts and a statement from Meredith Watson’s lawyer that I first learned or heard of anything about these sexual assault allegations,” the statement said. “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my life and I completely and categorically deny any such charge.”
A Fox Sports West spokeswoman told the New York Times that “Fox Sports takes allegations of misconduct seriously, and we are looking into the matter. We have no further comment at this time.”
Longtime Blue Devils basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski told media after a victory against Virginia on Saturday he had “no knowledge”of the accusations.