2004 La Salle University men's basketball scandal

The 2004 La Salle University men's basketball scandal, often simply referred to as the La Salle rape scandal, was an incident that began in June 2004, in which three members of the La Salle University men's basketball team were accused of rape in two separate incidents. Gary Neal and Mike Cleaves were acquitted on November 4, 2005 in one incident. Charges against Dzaflo Larkai were later dropped in the second incident, after the accuser refused to testify. As a result of the incident, all three players were placed on interim suspension from the university, and none returned. The head coaches of both the men's and women's basketball team, Billy Hahn and John Miller, were forced to resign after it came to light that both of them failed to report the incident - a violation of the federal law known as the Clery Act.

First incident

In June 2004 when Gary Neal and Mike Cleaves, two members of La Salle University's men's basketball team, were accused of raping a 19-year-old University of New Haven student on the night June 24th, who was on campus serving as a counselor for young players at a summer basketball camp. After the allegations came to light, a member of the La Salle women's basketball team claimed she was raped in April 2003 by Dzaflo Larkai, 23, another member of the men's basketball team.

Trial

Neal and Cleaves did not testify during the trial. Neal and Cleaves were both found not guilty. The charges against Larkai were dropped.