Penn State athlete suspended from team activities after domestic violence allegations
Editor’s note: The Centre County district attorney’s office withdrew one felony count of strangulation and one misdemeanor count of unlawful restraint on Feb. 26, 2020. (Updated: March 23, 2020)
A Penn State track and field athlete was indefinitely suspended from all team activities after university police accused him Saturday of domestic violence.
Justin Ofotan, 19, was charged by Penn State police with strangling a woman and restraining her from leaving his apartment.
The university is cooperating with authorities and university personnel, Associate Athletics Director for Strategic Communications Kris Petersen wrote in an email Monday.
“We are aware of the charges against Justin Ofotan,” Petersen wrote. “... Obviously, this alleged behavior does not reflect the values and standards of our program. Domestic violence, in any form, has no place in our society nor in our Intercollegiate Athletics program”
A university police officer was dispatched about 5:20 p.m. Saturday to Nittany Apartments for a report of domestic violence, police wrote in an affidavit of probable cause filed Saturday.
A woman inside the apartment told police she and Ofotan argued after she attempted to drop off his belongings, police wrote.
Ofotan is accused of pushing her away from the exit, grabbing her arm and strangling her, police wrote. The woman had a bloody lip after the altercation, police wrote.
Ofotan, a sophomore from Glenn Dale, Maryland, told police he restrained the woman from leaving the apartment through a window or the door because she had some of his belongings, police wrote.
A defense lawyer for Ofotan was not listed on a court document.
Ofotan was charged with one felony count of strangulation, one misdemeanor count each of unlawful restraint and simple assault, and one summary count of harassment.
He was arraigned Saturday by District Judge Allen Sinclair, who set bail at $5,000. Ofotan did not post bail and is detained at the Centre County Correctional Facility.
His preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.
CORRECTION: An incorrect word was used in an earlier version of this article to describe the nature of the strangling allegations. (Updated: 10 a.m. on Feb. 26, 2020)
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 6:00 AM.