A Nigerian basketball player based in the United States, Daniel Adegboyega, has been charged with first-degree rape by forcible compulsion in Alabama following allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman at his apartment.
According to a report by WVTM 13 on Monday, obtained by The Punch on Tuesday, the 21-year-old was arrested in July by officers of the Jacksonville Police Department at his residence in Jacksonville, Alabama.
Adegboyega, who recently signed for Jacksonville State University’s men’s basketball team ahead of the upcoming season, is currently being held without bond at the Calhoun County Jail.
The report also stated that court documents indicate the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement placed an immigration hold on him.
Investigators told the court that the complainant visited Adegboyega’s apartment on July 28 to watch a movie.
During the visit, the report said, she allegedly sent a secret text message to her roommate after Adegboyega made unwanted sexual advances.
After repeated phone calls and text messages went unanswered, Adegboyega reportedly answered one of the roommate’s calls using the woman’s phone and told the caller that she was in the bathroom.
Alarmed by the situation, the roommate contacted the Jacksonville Police Department and requested that officers carry out a welfare check.
Police reportedly arrived at the apartment at about 2 a.m. and found the woman in visible distress.
Authorities subsequently obtained statements from both Adegboyega and the complainant and collected evidence, including the woman’s trousers, which were reported to have bloodstains.
The report stated that the woman alleged Adegboyega forcibly raped her twice that night, but he denied using force.
He was reportedly taken into custody the same night and has remained at the Calhoun County Jail since his arrest.
At a bond hearing, ICE agent Ty Unruh testified that Adegboyega entered the United States on an F-1 student visa that expired in 2023.
According to the report, Unruh said that if Adegboyega is granted bond, he would be transferred to an immigration detention facility in Louisiana to begin immigration proceedings that could lead to his deportation to Nigeria.
However, Adegboyega’s host father, Ryan Parlee, challenged the immigration claims, insisting the testimony was inaccurate.
According to the report, Parlee said Adegboyega attended high school in Iowa for four years and graduated in 2022 without returning to Nigeria.
He argued that the immigration issues stemmed from a family trip to Mexico in 2022 and later worsened after Adegboyega transferred from the University of South Florida to UC Riverside.
Parlee further alleged that UC Riverside failed to file the required immigration documents before Adegboyega’s transfer to Jacksonville State University this summer, resulting in his visa’s lapse.
Adegboyega has pleaded not guilty to the charge, and the case remains before the court.
