Off-the-court issues continue to get worse for Los Angeles Lakers forward Devin Ebanks this season with last year’s rape scandal coming back to haunt the West Virginia product.
Ebanks is being sued by the same woman that accused him of rape back in 2011 according to TMZ.com:
L.A. Lakers star Devin Ebanks isn’t out of the woods yet … despite being cleared in a rape investigation last year — because the woman who accused him of sexual assault has now filed a civil lawsuit.
Now, the woman’s hoping to recover monetary damages in civil court — suing Ebanks for sexual assault and battery, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
The third-year forward was cleared of all charges for the incident that took place in Sept. 13, 2011 because the woman showed no credibility trying to trick Ebanks into admitting the two had sexual intercourse with a text message claiming that she had contracted a sexually transmitted disease. Ebanks responded saying that the two never had intercourse.
The charges were dropped against Ebanks by the Los Angeles County D.A. due to lack of evidence, but it appears that Ebanks will have to deal with the persistent woman a little while longer.
Ebanks came into the 2012-13 NBA season with high hopes of making an impression with the Lakers to merit more playing time and a bigger role on the team off the bench.
Unfortunately, the suspicion of DUI arrest earlier in the season has impacted his playing time with the Lakers’ coaching staff deciding not to play him for a considerable amount of time following the arrest. Ebanks has gradually got back into the team’s good graces as of late with two appearances in the month of Dec., but if the off-the-court issues continue, the team may simply part ways with the forward in the off-season.
