New details have emerged in a pair of disturbing cases involving former University of Washington running back Tylin "Tybo" Rogers, who now faces charges of both rape and assault. According to court documents obtained by KING5, Rogers is accused of raping two college students on separate occasions last fall, with one incident allegedly taking place in October and the other between Halloween and Thanksgiving. Rogers has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree and third-degree rape earlier this month.
It has come to light that UW coaches might have been privy to the looming issues surrounding Rogers, as text messages between athletic department staff suggest some awareness of the situation. In one text exchange in early December, UW Director of Football Player Development Cameron Elisara messaged then-head coach Kalen DeBoer, "WTF did Tybo do? I got people blowing me up about it. I won't say anything if you don't want me to obviously but I was just on ESPN radio and somebody brought it up," according to KING5. In response, DeBoer initiated a FaceTime call, the contents of which are not documented.
In addition to the sexual assault allegations, Rogers was arrested on April 5 in an assault case where he and another former UW football player are accused of "beating up" a man in Seattle's University District. Reports from KOMO News reveal that the attackers were identified via security footage.
Following the rape allegations and prior to the Pac-12 Championship game on Dec. 1, Rogers was removed from the travel roster, a move that was at the time attributed to "challenges he's had off the field." Further investigation uncovered a message in a group text from a staff member to DeBoer, suggesting passing along contact information for criminal defense attorney James Bible to Rogers. Rogers played in the Sugar Bowl and College Football Playoff championship game against Michigan after a temporary suspension from the team in late November.
Rogers has been directed to avoid any contact with the victims, to surrender any firearms, and to refrain from committing new crimes. He is ordered to appear in court on May 2 for the assault charge and on May 21 for the rape charges, with a trial date set for July. Meanwhile, DeBoer released a statement, "While I am not able to comment specifically on the situation involving an individual at my former institution because of federal privacy laws and the ongoing criminal matters, I do want to make it clear that I take any allegation of sexual misconduct very seriously. I always have and always will follow established institutional policies and procedures to ensure prompt reporting and proper handling of allegations by the appropriate authorities,” as reported by KOMO News.
