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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
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Bar Sued For Plying Rape Victim With Drinks

(CN) - A freshman raped by two former University of Miami football players sued the bar where she says she was plied with alcohol before the attack in a campus dorm room.

The plaintiff, Jane Doe sued Moheb Inc., the owner of Mr. Moe's bar, in the Miami-Dade County circuit court.

According to her complaint, Doe, a 17-year-old student, visited the trendy hanging spot the night of July 5, 2014 with several of her new college friends.

She says Mr. Moe's employees sold alcoholic beverages to Doe and to several other underage students without asking for any type of identification to confirm their age, and that they continued to do so even after "Doe, a minor, was so intoxicated by the alcoholic beverages she consumed that she was rendered helpless, unable to defend herself from the danger of becoming sexual prey to other students and patrons who were patronizing the bar."

Doe says she was so drunk that was actually immobilized for several hours at the club. Despite, she says, "Mr. Moe's took no action to prevent Doe from being removed from the premises of the bar by older male students, despite her being unable to stand several times."

Eventually, two University of Miami linebackers, JaWand Blue and Alexander Figueroa, took advantage of the situation and drove Doe to their campus dorm in Coral Gables, Fla., where they sexually assaulted her.

Blue and Figueroa were arrested and charged with sexual battery three days later, and were immediately expelled from the university. Last month, the Miami Herald reported they had agreed to undergo sex-offender treatment classes and complete 100 hours of community service.

If they complete the pre-trail diversion program for first-time offenders and stay trouble free for nine months, prosecutors will drop the charges against them.

Prosecutors said they were willing to make the deal in order to spare Doe the experience of testifying at the players' trial.

"The victim in this case, although never wavering from her insistence that the defendants sexually assaulted her against her will, did not believe it would be in her best interest to have to undergo the type of questioning and cross-examination that would essentially amount to an attack on her character should the case go to trial," prosecutor Laura Adams wrote in a memo to the court handling the criminal case.

In her civil suit, Doe seeks damages for bodily injuries, pain and suffering, humiliation, medical anguish, and medical and psychological expenses.

She is represented by John Eversole III of Miami.

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