Report: Communication between Butch Jones, police may have violated state law
Published:
Tennessee coach Butch Jones was alerted by police that former Vols A.J. Johnson and Michael Williams were under investigation for an alleged rape in 2014.
According to Nate Rau and Anita Wadhwani of The Tennessean, that may be a violation of state law.
The report, which references phone records and sources with knowledge of the situation, states that there were actually several conversations between the Knoxville police department and Jones. The records also show that police chief David Rausch contacted Johnson prior to being questioned by police.
According to the Tennesseean, Rausch classified the calls to Jones as “professional courtesy” calls although they could potentially jeopardize the integrity of the investigation. However, Rausch said those type of calls were commonplace when investigating alleged crimes involving student-athletes at Tennessee.
Still, the calls were made in the beginning stages of the investigation, which is not common.
Johnson and Williams are facing charges of aggravated rape and aiding and abetting aggravated rape. Their trials are currently on hold due to an appellate court’s approval of a pretrial appeal.
Born and raised in Gainesville, Talal joined SDS in 2015 after spending 2 years in Bristol as an ESPN researcher. Previously, Talal worked at The Gainesville Sun.
