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February 25, 2009

Rally held over jailing of NCCC student on rape charges

British NCCC basketball player accused of rape

By KIM SMITH DEDAM

SARANAC LAKE — Several dozen North Country Community College students protested Monday against what they consider wrongful imprisonment of a student basketball player.

Carrying signs that said "Free London" and "We love you London," the students — many of them NCCC men's and women's basketball players — assembled outside Saranac Lake Village Court.

The gathering amassed as Michael Odumosu, 19, an international student from London, was brought from Essex County Jail to the court for a status hearing.

He was arrested Dec. 17 on a charge of third-degree rape, stemming from a Sept. 14 incident at the off-campus "basketball house," which is owned by basketball Coach Chad LaDue and had been rented to students.

The charge alleges the woman was drunk and therefore unable to have consensual sex.

In her police statement, the woman says she "said no at least 50 times" and admitted being drunk.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION
Odumosu had been recruited to play on the college basketball team last fall.

For three months after the alleged rape, he continued to play on the team, attending classes at NCCC.

Franklin County District Attorney Derek Champagne, retained as a special prosecutor because of potential conflicts at the Essex County DA's Office, said the delay between the alleged crime and the arrest is not atypical.

It can sometimes take months to complete an investigation, he said.

"It is not unusual when you have so many people that need to be interviewed and when you have testing to be done."

Four other NCCC students were asked to give DNA samples on Monday.

The ongoing investigation could lead to another arrest, Champagne said.

"The information has come forward that there will likely be another individual arrested."

IMMIGRATION CHARGE
On Dec. 18, Judge Richard Meyer reduced a $30,000 bail to zero and allowed for Odumosu's conditional release, with electronic monitoring, to Frank Pastizzo, a management consultant and resident of Saranac Lake.

The release was curtailed after County Jail officials received a federal immigration detention notice.

"My understanding," Champagne said, "is that the Probation Office determined he was eligible for release under supervision of probation because there was a family willing to let him stay with them. That was all about to happen when Immigration and Customs Enforcement filed an immigration detainer because he was no longer a student."

The judge took Odumosu's passport so the suspended student could not travel, Champagne said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement has kept him in jail.

"The alleged criminal issue is not the reason Odumosu is in jail," Champagne said Tuesday.



COLLEGE ACTIONS
Pastizzo attended the protest Monday, along with Coach LaDue.

He says students have rallied around the British student.

"He hasn't been proven guilty of anything except not registering for classes."

Pastizzo believes NCCC wrongfully turned the student over to federal authorities.

"The college expelled him after he withdrew from classes and reported him to Immigration."

Edwin Trathen, NCCC vice president for enrollment and student services, said Odumosu did withdraw from spring courses but was still enrolled as a student for the fall semester.

In accordance with law, NCCC informed federal Immigration authorities when the British national was suspended.

And Immigration pulled his student visa.

The laws have been tightened since Sept. 11, Trathen noted.

"He (Odumosu) was still an enrolled student in the fall courses the date he was arrested (Dec. 17). He was suspended from the college on Dec. 18. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were notified that he was suspended from the college on the 18th. And the semester ended on Dec. 19. He had already withdrawn from the spring courses."

NCCC is not involved in the criminal investigation, Trathen said.

"When (the police and DA's office) determined to make an arrest, we, as a college responsible for college safety, took action to suspend the student due to the severe nature of the felony charge.

"I don't know of any college that intervenes in a criminal matter. We certainly do not."

Champagne said the case will stay in County Court, not federal.

"It will either go to grand jury or we'll come to some agreement on what the appropriate charges will be."

E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com

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