Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia speaks at a press conference, concerning his indictment in a 1996 sexual assault case, at the training facility in Allen Park, Michigan on May 10, 2018. Patricia says he was falsely accused. Daniel Mears, The Detroit News
One day after The Detroit News' report that Lions coach Matt Patricia had been indicted, but not tried, for an alleged sexual assault in 1996, Patricia vehemently denied the allegations and maintained his innocence.
"I'm here to defend my honor and clear my name. Twenty-two years ago I was falsely accused of something very serious — very serious allegations," Patricia said while reading from a written statement that lasted roughly three minutes. "There were claims made about me that never happened. I'm thankful on one level that the process worked and the case was dismissed. At the same time, I was never given the opportunity to defend myself or to allow pushback for the truth to clear my name. This was something that was very traumatic to me when I was 21 years old. Once it was finally addressed, I tried to put it behind me.
"Thankfully the truth is on my side. I've lived with the mental torture of situations where facts can be completely ignored or misrepresented with disregard for the consequence and pain it would create for another person. I find it unfair and upsetting that someone would bring this claim up over two decades later for the sole purpose of hurting my family, my friends and this organization with the intention of trying to damage my character and credibility. I was innocent then and I'm innocent now."
Patricia was a 21-year-old student and offensive lineman at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute at the time of the allegations. He was arrested along with teammate and fraternity brother Greg Dietrich in South Padre Island in March, 1996 after a 21-year-old woman accused the pair of breaking into her hotel room and sexually assaulting her.
"Again I think what's important here is what happened 22 years ago is what didn't happen," Patricia said. "As I said, I'm innocent then and I'm innocent now. I was falsely accused of something I did not do."
When asked if he was in the room with the woman and consensual sex occurred, Patricia reiterated "I did nothing wrong."
Patricia and Dietrich were released on $20,000 bond. In August that year, a grand jury indicted Patricia and Dietrich each on one account of aggravated sexual assault. The case was eventually dropped in January 1997, when the accuser didn’t return to court and the prosecution requested dismissal.
Patricia said in job interviews following the incident, including one in engineering "right after" the situation happened, it was never an issue and never came up.
He added nobody in the Lions front office knew about the incident before he was hired in February.
"It never came up in the interview process, but I've always been truthful about it when it was addressed," he said.
Lions owner Martha Ford, general manager Bob Quinn and president Rod Wood were on hand for the news conference, but didn't speak to the media.
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