A district court judge signed arrest warrants for Michigan State football players Josh King, Donnie Corley and Demetric Vance on Tuesday, one day after the county prosecutor announced plans to charge them with sexual assault.
The three players are accused of sexually assaulting a woman at an on-campus apartment in the early hours of Jan. 16. King was charged with first- and third-degree sexual assault and one count of capturing/distributing an image of an unclothed person. Corley and Vance were each charged with third-degree sexual assault.
Vance appeared in court Tuesday and entered a plea of not guilty. His lawyer said they intend to fight the charges. King and Corley are expected to be arraigned Wednesday morning.
Police say the alleged victim knew King before the encounter. A detective told the judge that King spoke to the woman in two rooms of the apartment before pulling her into the bathroom and forcing her to perform sex acts.
The detective said King then invited Corley and Vance into the bathroom separately and forced the woman to perform oral sex.
Police said the three players originally denied having any sexual contact with the woman, but they later changed their stories. Police said they discovered a video on King's cell phone of him having sex with the woman in the bathroom. There was also a text message exchange between King, Corley, Vance and a fourth player indicating that the three of them were involved in the altercation, according to police.
The Michigan State police department released a statement Tuesday morning saying that their officers conducted more than 100 interviews during a lengthy investigation.
All three players were dismissed from the football program Tuesday morning.
"Sexual assault has no place in our community, and I want to share my deep concern for the young woman affected and her family," Michigan State football coach Mark Dantonio said in a statement.
"This is an extremely challenging situation that we have taken very seriously and has affected everyone in this program. The high standards I have established for this program will not change, and the values that we teach to everyone in this program will be enforced. I expect all of our players and staff to conduct themselves in a manner that reflect the ideals of this university."
The three players were indefinitely suspended from the football program and removed from campus housing in February, shortly after the university was made aware of the incident.
The school also suspended football staff member Curtis Blackwell. He was not charged with any crimes, but an investigation commissioned by the university found he violated school policy by speaking to the players and not telling his bosses what he learned from those conversations. His contract with the school was not renewed when it expired at the end of May.
The school's board of trustees met with Dantonio and athletic director Mark Hollis on Monday afternoon, in part to discuss the results of that investigation, completed by Jones Day law firm. The board said afterward that Dantonio, Hollis and university president Lou Anna K. Simon have their "full support."
Karen Truszkowski, an attorney who represents the alleged victim, said that the scope of the investigation only included the immediate aftermath of this incident and not the larger culture of the program.
"These are not the only incidents. There are a whole lot more out there," Truszkowski said. "Is there a problem? You do the math."
Four of the 20 players who joined Michigan State's football team as freshmen in 2016 have now been charged with sexual assault. Auston Robertson was dismissed from the program in April after he was charged with third-degree criminal sexual conduct for allegedly raping a woman in her apartment. Robertson was previously arrested in January 2016 -- before signing to play for the Spartans -- on charges of misdemeanor battery that stemmed from allegedly improperly touching a female classmate in high school.
Former Michigan State wide receiver Keith Mumphery was banned from campus in June 2016 for violating the school's relationship violence and sexual misconduct policy in an alleged sexual assault in the spring of 2015.
Corley played in 12 games for the Spartans as a true freshman and was named to the FWAA's Freshman All-America team. He spent time at wide receiver and defensive back, finishing his first season with 33 catches for 453 yards and three touchdowns.
King played in nine games at defensive end during his true freshman season in 2016. He made 10 tackles. Vance did not play in his first season on campus last fall.
Attorney John Shea, who represents Corley, released a statement.
"It's never a good day when a criminal charge is filed against you, but at least Mr. Corley knows what he is facing and can get on with the process of fighting it," Shea said. "As appropriately noted by Prosecutor [Carol] Siemon in her statement, the charge is only an accusation and Mr. Corley is presumed to be innocent. He maintains that, in fact, he is innocent, and we intend to demonstrate that in the coming proceedings."