UF released 175 pages of documents Wednesday, including witness testimony and an interview between Treon Harris and Detective Justin Faroni. The documents also contain an incident report and multiple text messages that shed light on the details of the sexual battery complaint filed against Harris on Oct. 6, which was withdrawn Oct. 9.
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It is 6:36 a.m. Oct. 6, and Treon Harris is in the kitchen area shared by the residents of the fourth floor of Building 4 of the Springs Residential Complex in just a shirt and his underwear. He can’t get any other clothes because his room is sealed off by police, and anything in it is considered potential evidence. He agreed to speak with Faroni there instead of at the University Police Criminal Investigations Division because he didn’t want to leave the building without wearing more clothes.
Just after midnight Oct. 6, a female UF student reported that Harris sexually assaulted her in his room in the early hours of Oct. 5. Harris admits he has known the complainant since the summer when they both arrived at UF and admits immediately in the interview with Faroni that he believes she’s interested in him romantically and says on the night in question, she "kept" trying to sleep with him. Harris repeatedly states in the interview with Faroni that the two had intercourse but that it was consensual and that she in no way gave him any sign of not wanting to have intercourse that night.
Harris is repeatedly confused about why the complainant waited nearly 24 hours to report anything and is also distressed about the fact that the incident might appear on ESPN.
Harris says he could tell the complainant liked him from the moment he met her. He said she would say things like "you’re so handsome."
The night began after Harris returned to Gainesville with the rest of the Florida football team after a 10-9 victory over the University of Tennessee Volunteers. Harris and the complainant had "hung out" the Wednesday before the game — Harris and the team left for Knoxville, Tennessee, on Oct. 3.
When they returned the next day, per testimony given by Harris’ roommate Quincy Wilson, Wilson said he and Harris returned to their residence hall at 6:30 p.m. and watched T.V. in Wilson’s room, which is separated from Harris’ by a bathroom. The two then went to dinner and returned to Wilson’s room. What happened between the time the two returned and when Harris bid his roommate goodbye at 8:30 p.m. is not explained by Wilson, but Harris claims the complainant came over to watch the LSU-Auburn game which started at 7 p.m.
In text messages included in the incident report, Harris texted the complainant in a conversation beginning at 7:32 p.m. to "Come massage me," to which the complainant responded "Haha. I’ll come chill with you for a lil." Harris messages back "Whatever," and the complainant messages back "Lol so no?" Harris then says "It’s up to you." And the complainant says "Ite. Ill call you when I’m outside." Harris responds with simply "ok."
With the game turning into a blowout, Harris and the complainant went their separate ways, but shortly after midnight, the complainant texted Harris "(Where you at?)" to which Harris responded "Finna go out." The complainant then texted "Oh ite. Im at rain."
Harris ended up at the Rain Nightclub & Lounge along with a group of football players.
At the nightclub, Harris said he consumed one non-alcoholic Red Bull and had only had one drink before arriving at the club.
After the nightclub closed at 2 a.m., the group went to Waffle House, which turned out to be closed when they got there. They then went to a Kangaroo gas station and then got into a car with the complainant and a mutual friend (who was driving) to return to Springs.
Harris says in the incident report that the complainant came back to his room — both individuals live in UF’s Springs Residential Complex, but in separate buildings — and they laid together on his bed. Harris said they had plans previously to hang out together after going to the club.
According to the incident report, Harris told Faroni that "he removed his shoes and pants and lay down in his bed." Harris also said the complainant took her shoes off, put her purse down and lay beside him.
They began talking to each other and then kissing, and she began "feeling on me and everything." Harris said while the two were in the bed kissing the complainant removed her own underwear and then the two engaged in intercourse.
Harris told Faroni in the interview that the complainant asked Harris if the sex was good, to which Harris said yes.
According to the report, Harris said the complainant wanted to spend the night with him in his room, but he typically rests on Sundays after Saturday games.
Harris walked the complainant back to her building, then called her to make sure she was "alright" at 3:28 a.m.
Later in the day Sunday, Harris had a short text exchange with the complainant. He started by saying, "Don’t tell nobody bout nothing," and the complainant sent back "And don’t ever try me ever again," then "I wouldn’t even come near me if I were yu."
The 54-minute, 43-second interview is cut short when Harris requests an attorney. Faroni writes in the incident report that it was apparent Harris received a text message from someone advising him to no longer speak with him. Faroni discovered later that day that the person was his roommate, Wilson. The messages said "Tell (Faroni) you don’t want to talk no more. You want a lawyer." Wilson followed with another that reads "Make sure he don’t see this."
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The complainant was in the Shands South Emergency Room at 12:49 a.m. on Oct. 6 when UPD Officer Jessica Lynn Zarate responded to a sexual assault that happened the night before. In a private room with her father listening on speakerphone almost 24 hours after the alleged sexual battery occurred, she told UPD officers her side of the story.
On Oct. 4 at approximately 11:45 p.m., the complainant went with a friend to Rain, according to a police report. She said several UF athletes were also at the club. The complainant had "two rum and coke" drinks herself.
After they were finished at the club, the complainant and her friend, who drove, were going to head back to Springs. Harris — who the complainant described as a casual friend — asked if he could get a ride back with them, according to the report.
The complainant and Harris were in the back seat of the complainant’s friend’s vehicle while heading back to Springs. While on the ride back, Harris put his hand on the complainant’s leg, the complainant told officers. She then said she responded by telling him that he was "not gonna get laid," according to the report.
Once they returned to Springs, the driver wanted to get something to eat, according to the report.Harris and the complainant did not want to go, according to the report, and the complainant’s friend asked Harris to walk the complainant to her room.
The two walked into Building 4 of the residential complex and up the stairs to Harris’ room.
According to the report, the complainant said she was OK with going to Harris’ room at the time because "she was not really tired and did not mind hanging out for a bit." After time elapsed, the complainant asked Harris if she could stay the night, according to the report. Harris agreed.
The complainant, who had removed just her earrings and her boots according to what she reported, lay on the side of the bed closest to the wall while Harris was on the other edge, according to the report.
Then, she said, Harris flipped on top of her and felt like "dead weight," making it impossible for her to move.
The complainant said she told Harris multiple times that she did not want to have sex with him. According to the report, "she kept telling him to get off of her and that she did not want to have sex with him."
The complainant’s father paused the conversation and asked to talk with his daughter privately, according to the report. When Zarate returned to the room, she explained to the complainant and her father their options regarding charges, according to the report.
After completing a sexual assault evidence kit, the complainant then continued her story with Faroni.
After initially telling Faroni the same story she told Zarate, the complainant added that she remembered her underwear being removed at some point while Harris was on top of her, according to the report.
"(The complainant) told Harris to get off of her and that they were just friends," the report says. "(The complainant) said for five to seven minutes, Harris remained on top of her, using his body weight to hold her down, while she repeatedly told him to stop. (The complainant) said she specifically told Harris ‘I don’t want to have sex with you.’"
Harris then put on a condom and had sex with the complainant without her consent, she said to Faroni. She told Faroni that she was unable to move and Harris remained silent throughout.
After Harris ejaculated and threw away his condom, the complainant proceeded to put back on her boots and earrings and headed back to her room of the residential complex, according to the report. Harris walked her back to her room. She said it was about 3:25 a.m. on Oct. 5 when she arrived back at her room. Harris called the complainant later that night to see if she was still in her room, according to the report.
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The girl (whose name was redacted in the documents released) who drove Harris and the complainant back to the Springs Complex in the early morning hours of Oct. 6 wanted to get something to eat. Harris declined to dine with her and requested to be taken back to Springs with the complainant per the incident report.
The girl said she heard the complainant say "no, no I see you as a brother, I see you as just a brother. I don’t see you like that," but she thought the complainant was merely intoxicated. In hindsight, she admitted to Faroni as well as Officer Bonnie Boland — who also sat in on this particular interview — that Harris may have been touching the complainant, but she couldn’t see anything occurring in the back seat during the drive.
When they made it to Springs at approximately 2:30 a.m., she said she thought the complainant wasn’t that drunk anymore and let Harris walk her into the building, holding her hand while he did so.
The driver got food, then returned to Springs and asked if the complainant was OK. Harris called her and said "well, uh, I don’t know if she’s OK, ah, she opened (her room) door and then she shut it again when I was leaving, so I don’t know if she walked out."
The driver then said she called the complainant and asked her if she was in her room. The complainant then replied by saying "yeah, I could have sworn I said no." The driver asked the complainant to clarify what she was saying, and the complainant replied with "I think I said no." The driver thought the complainant was intoxicated and said she’d talk to her in the morning.
The next day, the complainant sent a text message that said "OMG (redacted) - I really have to tell you about Treon later (sad emoticon)".
But when pressed, the complainant said she wanted to speak over the phone and not over text message. During a phone call, the complainant told the driver, "yeah, last night I think I had sex with Treon." According to the report, the complainant told the driver that Harris didn’t walk her to her room but went to Harris’ room, and then said "he jumped on top of me and I just remember repeating ‘uh, no Treon, I don’t see us like that.’"
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Harris called wide receiver Latroy Pittman and a woman named Shanndore Brown at 3:30 a.m. that Sunday to pick him up. They all then went to Brown’s apartment and Harris watched T.V. and talked about random subjects. Brown says in the incident report that Harris never spoke about anything that had happened earlier that night and the two fell asleep on her couch. Brown woke Harris up at 8:30 a.m. and drove him to Springs, then did not have any further contact with him, per the incident report.
The next day after Harris’ initial interview with Faroni, the University Athletic Association released a statement saying Harris would be suspended indefinitely.
By Thursday, Oct. 9 at 11:35 a.m., Harris’ lawyer Huntley Johnson had issued a three-page statement in which they alleged — among other things — that the complainant had sexual relations with another individual earlier that evening and also said he did not believe Harris would be arrested or prosecuted and that they had gathered information from the Internet showing the complainant smiling and happy the day after the alleged sexual battery.
"We have previously indicated that we do not believe that Mr. Harris will be arrested or prosecuted," Johnson statement that day said. "That is because of our experience and the facts of this case. He is not guilty of a crime and he did not mistreat this young lady in any way that night."
At 2:24 that afternoon, Boland received a phone call saying that the complainant had decided not to press charges on Harris as she previously intended to. By 4:33 p.m. a signed and notarized complaint withdrawal had been returned to Boland. The next day, it was announced publicly that the complainant had withdrawn her complaint and that Harris was fully reinstated to the Florida football program.
Florida head coach Will Muschamp declined to comment to alligatorSports through a spokesperson on the release of the documents surrounding the alleged Harris incident, and University spokeswoman Janine Sikes wrote in an email linking to the documents that "the University will make no statement."
Johnson released a brief statement Wednesday saying "This has obviously been an unfortunate and traumatic event for Mr. Harris and his family, and for the young lady and her family. The judicial system and the University of Florida have both agreed to the appropriate resolution in this case."
Muschamp announced Wednesday that Harris will start over redshirt junior Jeff Driskel in Florida's next game against the Georgia Bulldogs.
Follow Richard Johnson on Twitter @RagjUF, follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Freshman quarterback Treon Harris walks off the field following Florida's 42-13 loss to Missouri on Saturday at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium.
Rain Nightclub & Lounge, located at 7 SW First St.
The Waffle House located at 3919 SW 40th Blvd.
