A former Wheaton College men's lacrosse player charged with sexually assaulting a female player on the Norton, Massachusetts campus in 2021, has pleaded not guilty. Oliver La Du, a 22-year-old from Darien, Connecticut, is facing two counts of indecent assault and battery on a person over the age of 14, and one count of strangulation or suffocation, as reported by Boston.com.
La Du's attorney, William J. Keefe, defended his client stating, "He's the victim of a false allegation of rape," as obtained by Boston.com. Keefe went on to say, "He maintains his innocence. This encounter was consensual, 100%." Keefe described La Du, now a student at the University of Colorado Boulder, as a "great kid," and added that his client "looks forward to having his day in court to clear his name."
The amended charges from the initial two counts of rape come after court documents detailed that the alleged assault took place following an off-campus party on September 10, 2021. Boston.com notes that the alleged victim, identified only by her initials, was not ready to make a report when a sexual assault evidence kit was collected the day after the incident. She did, however, communicate with Wheaton's Title IX coordinator and later filed an official report with Norton police during the summer of 2023.
According to MassLive, La Du was released on personal recognizance after his arraignment and, was ordered to have no contact with the victim. The National Sexual Violence Resource Center estimates that false reporting encompasses an estimated 2% to 10% of reported rape allegations. La Du is scheduled to appear back in court for a pretrial hearing on June 7.
Attorney Wendy Murphy, co-director of the Women's and Children's Advocacy Project at New England Law in Boston, expressed her client's ordeal, telling MassLive, "It's not easy to go forward in a case like this when you suffered as much as she has." Murphy added, "I hope she inspires other sexual assault victims to come forward. It’s never too late. For victims of sexual assault justice delayed is very common, And make no mistake, for them, justice delayed is justice." Both Wheaton College and the University of Colorado Boulder had not provided comments at the time of the reports.
