Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint at their arraignment hearing Feb. 13. Credit: Cori Wade | Assistant Photo Editor
Bond was set for former Ohio State football players Amir Riep and Jahsen Wint — accused of rape — Thursday in Franklin County Municipal Court.
Judge Cynthia Ebner set Riep’s conditional bond at $100,000 and Wint’s at $75,000 during both men’s first appearance in court for first-degree felony counts of rape and kidnapping.
Ebner’s conditions included no contact between the co-defendants, who were arrested Tuesday and dismissed from the Ohio State football program Wednesday, or either of the accused with the victim. Neither man can comment on social media about the case or engage in further acts or threats of violence, per Ebner’s conditions.
According to an affidavit filed by Columbus Police Tuesday, the incident is alleged to have occurred Feb. 4, when a 19-year-old woman began to engage in consensual sex with Riep before moving away and stating she did not want to continue.
According to the complaint, Riep — who appeared first in court Thursday — grabbed the woman by the neck, forced her onto her hands and knees and raped her. Riep then held her in place while Wint forced oral penetration, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said Riep recorded a video of the woman and told her to say it was consensual while she was crying and he laughed at her. The statement said Riep then drove the victim back to her residence.
Karl Schneider, the defense attorney for Riep, said he has seen the video, but did not provide comment on it. Schneider also declined to comment on how well his client knew the victim, who was in court Thursday.
Wint’s defense attorney, Sam Shamansky, said he has not seen the video, but denied his client’s involvement.
“First of all, my client’s not in the video. He didn’t take any videos,” Shamansky said. “He had no reason to take a video. He was playing video games.”
Shamansky said Wint has “absolutely no relationship” with the accuser and is willing to take a polygraph test, and Wint submitted without a search warrant to every physical test the Columbus Police administered.
“The Columbus Police were scratching their heads for seven days. Were my client some stone-cold rapist kidnapper, he wouldn’t have been on the street for seven minutes, not to mention seven days,” Shamansky said. “So this case is so full of reasonable doubt it’s beyond belief. But the reality is, my kid is innocent. Period.”
Shamansky said he’s sure Wint wishes he had the opportunity to defend himself prior to being dismissed from the football program at Ohio State.
While Shamanksy said Wint has no prior run-ins with the criminal justice system, Riep — a native of Colerain, Ohio — was charged with disorderly conduct in Hamilton Township in 2018.
Schneider said the incident occurred in the summer, and Riep was breaking up a dispute between two families.
Schneider said he thinks Riep will bond out, and Shamansky said Wint’s family is coming up from Brooklyn, New York, and hopes they can “scrape together” the money to post the bond.
Preliminary hearings for Riep and Wint will take place at 9:30 a.m. Feb. 21 at Franklin County Municipal Court.
