A search warrant OSU Police filed March 12 named two current Ohio State football players and one former OSU football player in connection with an alleged rape of a female OSU student. One player who was brought in for questioning by University Police was picked up by a staff member of the football team.

The Lantern obtained the warrant University Police Detective Pete Dragonette filed for access to one of the players’ cellphones.

Dragonette stated in the warrant that the phone might identify evidence associated with the incident.

The female student reported the incident, which allegedly occurred during the early morning hours of Oct. 21 in Neil Avenue Building, to police on Nov. 10.

The Lantern does not name victims of alleged sex crimes. Because no charges have been filed in this case, the players’ names are also withheld.

The woman told police she met two of the football players at an off-campus party on the night of Oct. 20, and walked back with them to the dorm room the players shared.

She told police she began to “fool around” with one of the players, Player 1, whom she told police she was romantically interested in.

She said she was kissing him when the other player started touching her without her consent.

She said she got off the bed and went into the bathroom to separate herself from the situation, but Player 2 followed her, began kissing her in the bathroom and then forced her to give him oral sex, which she said she did not want to do.

She said she pushed Player 2 away and exited the bathroom. She said a third player had entered the room, and she accepted Player 3’s offer to let her stay in his room for the night in an “extra bed.”

Dragonette interviewed Player 1 at University Police headquarters on Feb. 22, according to the warrant, and there was some discrepancies between his story and the woman’s. Player 1 said the woman came back to his room, then jumped on top of him and started to kiss him when he got into bed. He said he kissed her back, but stopped when he decided that he should not continue because he had a girlfriend.

Player 1 said he went to the bathroom, and when he returned, he saw the alleged victim touching Player 2. Player 1 said he went back to his own bed, and the woman then followed Player 2 into the bathroom. Player 1 said he was uncertain what transpired in the bathroom but said the woman went to Player 3’s bedroom after she and Player 2 left the bathroom.

According to the warrant, Player 1 declined to provide Dragonette with his girlfriend’s phone number.

University Police Chief Paul Denton confirmed that the department is conducting an “active and ongoing criminal investigation” into the case.

“Our detectives have been pursuing all leads as is their routine,” Denton stated in an email. “Since this is an ongoing investigation, there is nothing more anyone from OSU Police are able to discuss at this time.”

The first player told Dragonette when he left that Ryan Stamper, coordinator of player development for OSU football, was at the police headquarters.

The 2012 OSU football season, the Buckeyes’ first under coach Urban Meyer, was the first for all three players.

One of the three players left the team prior to the start of spring football. An OSU spokesman confirmed he is not enrolled in classes at OSU.

An OSU athletics department spokesman declined The Lantern‘s request for comment. A statement from OSU’s media and public relations department said “the university is not at liberty to discuss the matter at this time.”

The woman did not return email requests for comment.