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Ivory CoastFormer NC State Sports Medicine Director Arrested on Sexual Abuse Charges
Former NC State sports medicine director Robert Michael Murphy has been arrested in Florida following a grand jury indictment for sexual abuse.
Former NC State Director Arrested in Florida
Robert Michael Murphy, the former sports medicine director at NC State, was arrested on Wednesday evening. Authorities took him into custody in Ocala, Florida, where he currently lives. The arrest came after a grand jury indicted him last week on multiple felony and misdemeanor charges.
Murphy faces at least two felony counts for sexual penetration or contact under the guise of medical treatment. He also faces four indictments for sexual battery. The indictments were handed down on September 14 but remained sealed until Murphy was located.
He is charged under a 2019 North Carolina law. This law made sexual abuse under the guise of medical treatment a felony.
History of Allegations
The allegations against Murphy first emerged in 2022. Former men's soccer player Ben Locke filed a criminal complaint with campus police. Locke stated that the abuse began in 2015, when he was a 17-year-old freshman recovering from an injury.
NC State launched a Title IX investigation in 2022. That investigation determined Murphy's conduct during therapeutic massage sessions was unwelcome, pervasive, and severe.
The report found that Murphy made repeated nonconsensual sexual contact with Locke. Murphy resigned from his role at the university in the spring of 2022 before the investigation was finished.
Ongoing Legal Battles
Locke is not the only athlete who has come forward. A civil lawsuit has been filed by 32 former athletes against Murphy and eight university officials. The lawsuit claims that administrators failed to stop the abuse despite receiving warnings about Murphy as early as 2012. Two more former athletes plan to join the suit.
A judge dismissed the civil lawsuit in June. The judge ruled that the claims must be filed with the state's Industrial Commission and that the statute of limitations had expired. The athletes have appealed this dismissal.
Kerry Sutton, a lawyer representing the athletes, said the criminal charges validate Locke and the other former players. Meanwhile, Murphy's attorney, Jared Hammett, previously defended his client. Hammett said, "The truth is nothing happened but a man's career being ruined for money."
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