Former football standout charged faces sex charge
Antonio Battle comes from Palm Beach County football royalty. In the early 1990s, Battle amassed 9,000 total yards and scored 97 touchdowns as Wellington High’s first true offensive star before going on to Oregon State.
His younger brother, Julian Battle, starred as a defensive back at Tennessee and then played for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.
But now Antonio Battle is 38 years old and stands accused of having sex with a 17-year-old girl and harboring the runaway at his Wellington home.
Investigators said they were contacted by the girl, wh o s a i d s h e r a n a w a y f r o m B a t t l e a n d f e a r e d him because he has a gun. She has been a subject of a human-trafficking investigation, according to the Palm Beach sheriff ’s probable-cause affidavit.
There is no indication that Battle was being investigated for trafficking the teenager, but his attorney — William Abramson — pointed out that Battle met the alleged victim at Scores, a strip club in Palm Springs. Dancers at the club, on Lake Worth Road west of Congress Avenue, have to be 21 years old, he said.
“Something is going on here,” Abramson said.
Abramson said there was no probable cause for Bat- tle’s arrest. His client denies having sex with the minor and she refused to tell investigators for the Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office that they engaged in intercourse.
Abramson said the sheriff ’s office made a “legal conclusion” that Battle had sex with the teenager.
Ci rc ui t Judge Carol i ne Shepherd didn’t agree Thursday, setting Battle’s bond at $46,000 for two charges of unlawful sex with a minor and two charges of giving shelter or aid to an unmarried minor. He remains in custody, according to jail records.
According to the probable-cause affidavit, Battle told investigators that he thought the victim was in her 20s until mid-December when she was arrested for possession of narcotics.
“He admitted he developed feelings for her,” the affidavit reads.
The affidavit stated that Battle never asked if the alleged victim’s mother knew where she was staying. But when she told him that her mother would be looking for her, he told investigators that he encouraged the alleged victim to talk with her and to return home. venience store, restaurant and car wash. The airport will receive 3 percent of gross revenues that exceed $2.5 million.
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