Utah defensive tackle Jamal Wallace has been suspended indefinitely from the football program after his arrest last week in a case involving allegations that he shared “sexually explicit” videos without consent.
A Utah athletics spokesperson confirmed the move on Wednesday and said the program acted on Oct. 11, the same day it became aware of the situation. Wallace has not been formally charged as of Wednesday evening.
“We were made aware of the situation with Jamal Wallace on Oct. 11, and he was immediately placed on an indefinite suspension from the program,” the Utah athletics spokesperson said. “We take these matters seriously. As this is a pending legal matter, we have no further comment at this time.”
Wallace was released from jail after posting $5,000 bail, and he did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Police arrested Wallace on allegations tied to distributing intimate images, which are misdemeanor counts, rather than on suspicion of a sexual assault charge. In an arrest document, Wallace denied sexually assaulting the woman during a police interview. He also allegedly told an officer that he had accessed her Snapchat account to see whom she had been talking to.
The woman told Salt Lake City police that Wallace was her “off-and-on dating partner,” according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by The Salt Lake Tribune. She said she met him on Oct. 9 to talk about their relationship, but alleged that Wallace instead forced her into various sex acts. She also said he grabbed her cellphone at one point and said he wanted to change the music that was playing.
After he left, the woman told police she discovered that Wallace had allegedly recorded a video of himself having sex with her on her phone and sent it to five people she had been talking to on Snapchat.
According to the affidavit, after seeing the videos, the woman told police she felt “confused and disgusting,” and she underwent a sexual assault examination.
An officer wrote that Wallace became upset after looking through the woman’s Snapchat messages and seeing that she had been communicating with other men. The officer also wrote that Wallace had recorded “two sexually explicit videos involving himself and the victim.”
Wallace transferred to Utah from Tennessee this offseason. He played in one game this season before the suspension.
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