SUSPENDED PLAYER
United says little other than it is investigating Padilla
Neither New Mexico United nor Manny Padilla has made any public comments since the second-year defender was suspended by the team on Tuesday after details of a 2015 sexual misconduct case at the University of San Francisco came to the team’s attention.
United announced Tuesday it would conduct an investigation, adding “under no circumstances does our team condone or tolerate sexual violence or assault.”
On Saturday, a United spokeswoman declined comment to the Journal in an email: “The investigation is ongoing, and the club will release a statement when it has concluded.”
The Journal also asked the team to speak with Padilla, which was not addressed in United’s response, and has asked what a team investigation would entail.
Professional sports teams and college athletic departments in recent years have come under criticism for conducting their own investigations into such matters involving players. Most teams don’t employ personnel used to dealing with such matters and are often ill-equipped, both in terms of expertise and experience, to adequately handle a matter like a sexual misconduct allegation, particularly one at an out-of-state university from five years ago.
A USL spokesperson wrote in an email to the Journal that the league is “aware of the situation and has full confidence in New Mexico United’s leadership and their ability to handle the situation appropriately.”
The Journal has found no indication Padilla has been criminally charged with any offense, but the University of San Francisco has confirmed that Padilla in 2015 “was involved in a case of sexual misconduct involving
another USF student. After an investigation by USF’s Title IX office, Mr. Padilla was found to be responsible and, as result, he received disciplinary sanctions from the university.”
USF did not answer Journal questions about the incident or the discipline he faced.
A USF spokeswoman told the Journal in an email, “As a matter of uniform practice, a student, including a student athlete, who is found in violation of the University policy against sexual misconduct or sexual assault will be immediately removed from university-sponsored, non-academic activities and intercollegiate athletics, in addition to other serious discipline.”
A Journal review of the team’s statistics showed Padilla missed only four games in four years playing for USF men’s soccer. Two of those were as a freshman before the misconduct allegation in 2015. Padilla remained a starter through the team’s final game of his senior season in 2017, when he played in 18 of the team’s 19 games.
A defender, Padilla started 23 matches for United’s inaugural 2019 season and both matches this year before the suspension.
The allegations came to light early last week when USF graduate William Midence launched a change.com petition demanding USF to “TAKE ACTION NOW! Alleged sexual allegations on the USFCA Men’s
Soccer Team.” That petition has numerous details of allegations of a culture of misconduct around the program, and Padilla is named specifically. The petition had more than 4,900 signatures as of Saturday night.
Midence has also been aggressive in his posting and sharing stories of women who have come to him through social media direct messages with other allegations.
USF acknowledged it is looking into “a culture of misconduct” for the men’s soccer team, also noting that the team “has undergone a comprehensive change in leadership in the last year.”
USF says it will make public the results of its investigation, adding it will hire “external experts in interviewing witnesses and assessing facts of reports of incidents in college campuses.”
United is in an interesting position. On one hand, it wasn’t in existence when the allegations occurred, and it appears Padilla has not been charged with a crime. On the other, United unapologetically and aggressively markets itself as something much more than a soccer team — as a symbol of culture, community and state that won’t stand for such things as Padilla is being accused.
Just Saturday United posted on each of its social media channels, along with a picture of several players, the message: “Never forget, this is where we stand… United Against Racism and United for Justice.”