Two separate women have accused Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Marcell Dareus of sexual assault in a pair of lawsuits filed this summer—with one woman claiming that Dareus gave her a sexually transmitted disease.
Texas woman Jane Doe, who filed her lawsuit Friday in Duval County, Florida, alleged that she went on a date with Dareus, 28, in April and later woke up in his hotel room with no memory of a sexual encounter to which she did not consent. Doe claimed that she then had consensual sex with Dareus over the next several days, during which he did not use protection or disclose that he had a sexually transmitted disease. Later that week, she was diagnosed with herpes.
“Defendant committed aggravated sexual assault by knowingly transmitting herpes to the plaintiff without her knowledge or consent, causing her serious bodily injury,” the lawsuit stated, adding that Dareus’ “negligence per se has caused [Doe] to suffer severe physical and mental injuries, including, but not limited to, past and future medical costs, past and future pharmaceutical costs, past and future physical pain and suffering, past and future mental anguish and loss of enjoyment of life.”
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Doe demanded a jury trial to determine damages in excess of $15,000.
In a separate lawsuit, an unnamed plaintiff filed suit last month against Dareus in Florida’s Hillsborough County Circuit Court. According to The Tampa Bay Times, the woman met Dareus at a club in downtown Tampa in January.
The two-time Pro Bowl defender reportedly rented a 6,820-square-foot property called Villa Adriana for the week of the University of Alabama national championship game against Clemson. Dareus, a Crimson Tide alum, was part of ESPN’s coverage of the game, according to the Times.
The unnamed plaintiff reportedly alleged in the suit that she was invited to an afterparty at the mansion, where the fête included “alcohol, marijuana and cocaine open and visible.”
Dareus allegedly “grabbed her breast and attempted to put his hands between her legs,” despite the fact that she told him to stop. Eventually, according to the lawsuit, the woman blacked out, with sparse memories of being guided down a hallway to a bedroom.
The next morning, she allegedly woke up in bed next to Dareus, who was unclothed, and she “began to immediately realize that there had been sexual physical acts upon her person.”
No criminal charges have been filed in either case, the Times and USA Today report, but Dareus’ attorneys have filed a motion seeking to dismiss the Hillsborough County lawsuit. The issue will be discussed at an August 9 hearing.
