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Report: Oregon’s Damyean Dotson suspended after forcible rape investigation; Dominic Artis, Brandon Austin also named in report, suspended

Oregon announced Monday morning that sophomore guards Damyean Dotson and Dominic Artis and freshman forward Brandon Austin were “not currently participating in any team activities,” and on Monday night a police report from the Eugene Police Department revealed that Dotson was investigated for an alleged forcible rape that occurred in March. The report was first shared by Andrew Grief of the The Oregonian.

Artis and Austin were also named in the police report, but the Lane County District Attorney’s office decided not to prosecute the case due to a lack of evidence. The district attorney’s office did not investigate charges against Artis and Austin and it is unknown what Dotson was being potentially charged with.

Only Dotson was listed as a suspect by the district attorney’s office when it wrote on April 14 that insufficient evidence had helped stop the office from pursuing prosecution. The office did say, “While there is no doubt the incidents occurred, the conflicting statements and actions by the victim make this case unprovable as a criminal case.”

The forcible rape incident allegedly occurred sometime in the evening hours between Saturday, March 8th and Sunday, March 9th and the alleged incident was reported to police on March 13th.

You can read the Eugene Police Department report provided by The Oregonian here. (WARNING: Graphic)

Artis and Dotson played in the Pac-12 Tournament in Las Vegas on March 12th and 13th and the Ducks were eliminated on the 13th in an 82-63 loss to eventual tournament champion UCLA.

The duo also played in the NCAA Tournament the next week when they helped No. 7 seed Oregon knock off BYU in the Round of 64 on March 20th before falling to Wisconsin in the Round of 32 on March 22nd at the BMO Harris Bradley Center in Milwaukee.

Austin didn’t play a game this season after transferring to Oregon from Providence mid-season. Austin -- along with former Providence teammate Rodney Bullock -- was suspended indefinitely during the season for breaking Providence’s Code of Conduct and a Wall Street Journal report in March linked Austin and Bullock to a sexual assault investigation.

Dotson was also arrested on February 22nd for using a fake ID to enter a campus bar. The sophomore guard was suspended for a game and the case was closed on April 11th as Dotson received deferred prosecution and was given a $300 fine and told to attend a class for eight hours.

These allegations are obviously disturbing and even though Artis, Austin and Dotson won’t receive any sort of prosecution, this certainly doesn’t look good for Oregon’s basketball program.

The Ducks have already lost a number of players to graduation and transfer this off-season and with Artis, Austin and Dotson suspended only senior guard Joseph Young, sophomore forward Elgin Cook and junior guard Jalil Abdul-Bassit remain as scholarship players in positive standing on the team.

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