Texas Rangers begin investigation into Baylor
The Texas Rangers have begun an investigation into Baylor’s handling of sexual assault allegations by students, State Rep. Roland Gutierrez told ESPN on Wednesday.
Speaking on the “Capital Games” podcast with Andy Katz and Rick Klein, Gutierrez said that the investigation began Tuesday. ESPN.com later confirmed that the Texas Rangers have opened a preliminary investigation of Baylor, citing a spokesman from the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“Our Texas Rangers are kind of our elite investigative squad — you’d equate them almost to the FBI on some level — and so I’m happy to report that they have gone forward and they are beginning an investigation into Baylor University as of (Tuesday), last night I found that out,” Gutierrez told the podcast hosts.
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Gutierrez had filed House Resolution 664 on Friday in the Texas House of Representatives, calling upon Gov. Greg Abbott to direct the Texas Rangers “with investigating the obstruction of justice surrounding the sexual assault of young female students at Baylor.”
Gutierrez said Wednesday that the Texas Rangers didn’t need the governor’s approval to open an investigation.
“Well they’ve been very helpful and accepting of this, but in my communication with Col. (Steven) McCraw within the Texas Rangers, he doesn’t need anybody’s permission to go forward,” Gutierrez said on the podcast. “And he did begin a preliminary investigative process and found out that there was enough to go forward and really see that there were some shortcomings both by the Baylor Police Department and by the Waco Police Department.”
Gutierrez, who held a press conference Monday during which he said “there’s no way in hell” he’d send his two daughters to Baylor, reiterated that stance Wednesday while expressing satisfaction that the Texas Rangers had gotten involved.
“It’s nice to know that people are listening and they went off and had some preliminary investigations, made some phone calls within the Waco community and they felt that there was enough — just on the surface — enough by some of their own admissions within the Pepper Hamilton report to go forward,” Gutierrez said on the podcast. “I’m very proud of the fact that our elite team, if you will, of investigators has seen that there is a need to go in there and look at what happened over the last five, six years and really see if there’s an obstruction of justice.”
Baylor has faced several lawsuits and a reduction in revenues from the Big 12 after a “finding of facts” report released in May by the Philadelphia-based law firm Pepper Hamilton, whose investigation said the school didn’t comply with Title IX in its response to sexual assault reports and even discouraged reporting in some cases.
Head football coach Art Briles was fired in wake of the report, which also led to the eventual resignations of both school president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw.
For more Baylor news, visit SicEmSports.com.
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Matt Fortuna is a contributor for the Yahoo Sports blogs. Have a tip? Email him or follow him on Twitter!
