Ex-Falcon Charged With Sexually Assaulting 12-Year-Old Girl

COLUMBUS, GA -- Justin Crawford, a former Georgia high school standout football player who signed briefly with the Atlanta Falcons earlier this season, was arrested Saturday in Columbus on charges that he allegedly had sex with a 12-year-old girl. Crawford played running back at Hardaway High School in Columbus and then at West Virginia University. He is now facing charges of incest, sodomy and enticing a child for indecent purposes, according to Muscogee County jail records.

Crawford is being held without bond in the Muscogee County Jail, according to the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer. During a Monday preliminary hearing, police said Crawford’s wife, Chakeya, woke up Saturday around 5 a.m. and walked into her living room to find her husband with an erection as he stood over the child.

Later, however, Crawford'w wife told the paper she said her husband’s penis was exposed but not erect. She said she confronted her husband about it, that he denied any wrongdoing and she decided to go back to bed.

The child told her mother she had been asleep in the living room when Crawford came in and had her perform oral sex on him before they had intercourse, police said.

Read the Ledger-Enquirer's story here.

The child was taken for a medical exam, police said. Crawford initially denied any sexual contact with the girl to police, but later admitted to having oral sex and intercourse with her but claimed it was her idea.

Crawford spent two years at Northwest Mississippi Community College, where he rushed for over 3,000 yards and six touchdowns, according to the AJC. He then transferred to West Virginia, where he ran for more than 2,200 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Crawford signed with the Falcons on May 1 as un-drafted free agent on May 1, but was cut in September. The AJC is also reporting he was on the roster for the new Atlanta Legends in the Alliance of American Football League but has been suspended after being arrested.

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Image Muscogee County Jail