Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson has been charged with sexual or civil assault for more women, according to lawsuits filed this week in Harris County. One of the women, who claims that Watson exposed himself to her and forced her to touch her genitals during a massage, accused him of being a “serial predator”.
In the past two weeks, 16 women – all service providers in the health and wellness sector – said they were assaulted by Watson after he hired them for a massage during separate incidents in 2020 and 2021. A Watson lawyer appealed to the seven lawsuits filed last week “without merit”, and told CBS News on Tuesday that “any allegation that Deshaun forced a woman to commit a sexual act is completely untrue”.
Two of the 16 women are suing Watson for sexual assault. In a lawsuit, a woman alleges that Watson, 25, forced her to have oral sex on him during a massage in December 2020. The woman claims that after Watson “aggressively started dictating the massage and where he wanted the Claimant to touch him in his body, “he started” telling him hard to move his hand to his pubic area “before forcing her to do oral sex on him.
The lawsuit says the victim “passed out” for a few minutes of fear during the encounter and was “confused” and “terrified”.
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The other sexual assault case claims that Watson exposed himself and asked a woman to massage his genital area during a massage in August 2020. Watson then allegedly forced the woman to have oral sex on him, wrapped her legs around his neck and said to her to practice more sexual acts.
In the other lawsuits, women allege similar experiences with Watson exposing himself, directing them aggressively to touch inappropriate areas of his body and, in some cases, touching them with his genitals. In these lawsuits, Watson faces charges, including civil aggression and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In several cases, Watson is accused of making threatening comments to women to prevent them from presenting. After an incident in which Watson allegedly exposed himself and touched a woman’s hand with the tip of his penis, he is accused of telling her, “I know you have a career and a reputation, and I know that you would hate for someone to mess with with yours, just like I don’t want anyone messing with mine. “
A lawyer, Tony Buzbee, is representing all 16 women. Buzbee said this weekend that he planned to hand over the evidence to the Houston Police Department and would ask a grand jury to review the allegations, according to CBS affiliate KHOU.
When Buzbee announced that he had filed the first lawsuit last week, Watson issued a statement denying that he had ever treated a woman with “anything beyond maximum respect”.
“The plaintiff’s lawyer claims that it is not about money, but before filing the case he made an unsubstantiated six-figure agreement, which I quickly rejected,” said Watson. “Unlike him, it’s not about money for me – it’s about clearing my name, and I’m looking forward to doing that.”
In a statement to CBS News on Tuesday, Watson’s lawyer said he believed that “any claim that Deshaun forced a woman to commit a sexual act is completely untrue.”
The lawyer also said he had “strong evidence” that the claim that Watson forced a woman to have oral sex on him during the December massage is “completely untrue”. The lawyer provided a statement from Watson’s marketing manager, who claims to have spoken to a person he believes to be the plaintiff in that case in January 2021.
The marketing manager claimed that the complainant admitted that she had a consensual meeting with Watson, but asked for $ 30,000 for “indefinite silence” about her meeting. The manager said he did not provide the money.
The NFL is investigating the charges. The Texans said the team will maintain “close contact” with the league and “will continue to take this and all matters that involve anyone within the Houston Texans organization seriously.”