The two men were dismissed from the rowing team, according to a statement issued Friday by the University of Washington athletic department.
Two members of the University of Washington men’s rowing team have been accused of sharing video and photos of themselves having sex with drunken female students, according to charging papers.
John C. Young and Tyler Minney, both 19, were each charged Wednesday with one count of disclosing intimate images for allegedly distributing to classmates a video of both men having sex with a “highly intoxicated” freshman student without her consent.
Minney also was charged with a second count of the offense for allegedly sharing photographs of himself having sex with a 19-year-old female student.
Both Young, of Brewster, N.Y., and Minney, of Folsom, Calif., also have been dismissed from the rowing team, according to a statement issued Friday by the UW athletic department.
King County prosecutors allege in charging papers the two rowers had sex with a then-18-year-old student in December at McMahon Hall, a university dormitory, where they “filmed their sexual encounter without (the victim’s) knowledge or consent and distributed it to fellow classmates over the course of the next few months.”
Only months later did the victim learn from friends about the incident, the records say. She reported it to UW’s Title IX office, which in turn contacted university police.
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Prosecutors also contend Minney secretly took photographs as he had sex last October with a 19-year-old student who was drunk at the time. Minney allegedly shared the pictures with classmates over the next several months, prosecutors say.
The woman “had little to no memory of the … sex and did not learn it had been photographed until a friend showed her the picture,” according to the charging records.
Minney and Young’s actions “have profoundly and negatively impacted the lives” of both women “by causing them embarrassment, shame and pain,” charging papers say.
Because the charges represent each man’s first offense for the alleged crime, the charges are gross misdemeanors under state law.
“They have not been booked and are currently out of custody,” Dan Donohoe, a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, wrote in an email Friday. “The court set bail in the case at $30,000 for Minney and $20,000 for Young. Arraignment is set for August 17 at the courthouse.”
Both men have been ordered to have no contact with the women, records show.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesman for UW’s athletic department emailed a statement to The Seattle Times.
“We are aware of charges filed against two former members of our men’s rowing program,” the statement said. “Those individuals were immediately suspended from the team when we first learned of the investigation, and are now no longer part of the program.”
The Husky men’s crew is one of the most successful collegiate rowing programs in the nation.