Paula Sullivan Lavigne of ESPN is the journalist who requested the TPD documents in what appears to be a fishing expedition Paula has also re-tweeted articles unfavorable to Jameis and FSU.
Another student athlete, University of Tulsa's, Patrick Swilling believes Paula Lavigne and attorney John Clune have pursued him and ignored numerous facts supporting his case. Patrick is attempting to fight back and released an open letter in an attempt to clear his name. Patrick Swilling was not charged of a crime by the D. A. after an investigation and the university found he did not violate the conduct code. Attorney John Clune and the accuser are now suing the university. Patrick's letter follows, and the link to the entire document showing the accuser's tweets follows:
To The Public:
While I have kept a quiet approach throughout these false allegations, I
have decided to answer the most recent articles about allegations of multiple
sexual assaults brought upon me. Abigail Ross accused me, Patrick Swilling
Jr., of sexual assault in February 2014; while I have been cleared of those
allegations by the Tulsa Police Department and The University of Tulsa,
Abigail Ross, attorney John Clune and ESPN's Paula Lavigne have
continued to pursue me. They have continued their slander, released
misinterpreted and misleading information and statements that have proven
to be false. Since the allegations began, their party has only released
information in their favor to shape the public’s view on the case; I also have
information to share:
• Ms. Ross painted the picture that I forcefully held her down and raped
her; she has recanted and changed the story numerous times since first
reporting to authorities on January 28th.
• Ms. Ross submitted incomplete (deleted) text messages to authorities
that included between 50 and 100 text messages since the night of
January 27th.• On the night of Janurary 27th Ms. Ross has stated she was at another
apartment on campus where she was witnessed acting normal and in
good spirits throughout the night.
• On the night of Janurary 27th both my roommate and his girlfriend
were both present and awoke in the apartment and did not support
Ms. Ross claims.
• Ms. Ross favorited and retweeted tweets from my twitter account after
January 27th, to later be deleted when allegations became public.
• Ms. Ross tweeted a picture of a young girl holding a poster claiming
to be raped by an athlete days before she implicated me to having
sexually assaulted her.
• Ms. Ross had previously accused a former University of Tulsa student
athlete of rape when she allegedly was recorded having sexual
intercourse with 2 other men but recanted when shown the video.
(Video Attached)• Ms. Ross is a self proclaimed "cleat chaser".
• Ms. Ross's mother attempted to "reach out" to Ms. Ross' witnesses to
make sure they were all on the same page days before The University
of Tulsa's hearing. (Documented)
• Ms. Ross was implicated in witness tampering; she allegedly asked
the witness was he still in possession of the sex video and to keep
quiet about their ordeal in which she accused him of rape if asked by
authorites.
While ESPN's Paula Lavigne has worked tirelessly to research my
background and find any lead she could, she resorted to Alexia Mallory.
Alexia Mallory was a good friend of mine during the time I spent at the
College of Southern Idaho, she was also the fiancé of my teammate and is
now a mother. I have never sexually assaulted or engaged in sexual activity
with Alexia Mallory. Mallory's then best friend and roommate, Alysha
Zephyr, has given a statement about the alleged sexual assault:"The statement that Alexia Mallory has put out claiming that Patrick
Swilling Jr. sexually assaulted her is a lie. I, at the time of the alleged
assault, was one of her closest friends and roommate; I have physical
evidence showing that what Alexia is claiming is in fact not the truth.
Patrick throughout the semester was always over at our apartment
with his teammates, Alexia and I; hanging out, having dinner,
watching movies etc. Even in the days following the alleged night of
the assault Alexia invited him over to hang out with us multiple times.
I witnessed Alexia, while arguing with her fiancé at the time, telling
him that she had sex with Patrick. She yelled, "that's right I fucked
him" and "yeah, we had sex!" as she got back in her car and headed
back to our apartment. It was then that I started to receive texts from
her saying that she was going to "kill herself" and I immediately went
back to our apartment to find her trying to take a handful of
prescription pills. She told me that it only happened one time and she
didn't want to tell me because she thought it would make things weird
between the group of friends. It was days later that Alexia changed
her story to the one she tells now, but Alexia's accusations came about
as a desperate effort to first infuriate then get her fiancé, at the time, to take her back. She came out with the story in mid February and
alleged it happened before Christmas. As I stated before I have
physical evidence and other witnesses to confirm this."
Paula Lavigne also interviewed Alysha Zephyr in the weeks following the
sexual assault allegations by Abigail Ross and was previously confronted
with all of this knowledge yet she continued to pursue a lie.
Throughout these allegations I have maintained a quiet approach and
we have tried our best to keep private information about my accuser away
from the public. While Abigail Ross has given a consistent effort to destroy
my livelihood, I have made a conscious effort to not make this about my
accuser but focus more on defending myself of these harsh allegations. I
have learned countless lessons from these circumstances and I have
continued to mature from this situation. I have proven my innocence and
continue to persevere through these tough times. I have been verbally
abused, harassed, constantly sent harsh things on social media and even
received death threats on multiple occasions. While I understand the
backlash, your opinions of myself have been created by reading material that
portrays me in a negative light. Nothing written has been in my favor and
nothing negating my accuser's stories has been written either.While I do not condone Sexual Assault in any manner, after going
through this experience I believe assumptions and public perception are
made well before any factual information has been determined. It takes 3
words, "He raped me" to start an onward cycle of hate, discrimination and
public disowning with almost always half of the story being told. It’s
become easy for a woman to use to sexual assault for a substitute when
friends, family and most of the time their significant other frowns upon the
truth of what she did. If allegations of Rape can put me in prison, why can’t
proven false allegations of Rape put an accuser in prison for the same
amount of time? The allegation is just the beginning, what comes after is
what’s felt the most. I was suspended indefinitely from all athletic events
before anyone even asked me what happened on the night of January 27th,
2014. Athletes are always targeted on both the college and pro level because
of our popularity and how much we have to lose; we are not treated as
regular students or citizens when it comes to these types of allegations. The
news releases are usually tainted to make us look a certain way, more than
likely in a bad perspective. The accusers names are never mentioned because
it is detrimental to their well being, however it's ok for my name to be
tarnished and for me to receive death threats, hate mail and suspensions
while what’s being reported is false? The accuser sexual history is never spoken of but anything found or heard in my sexual history is printed? Yes, I
am an athlete. Yes, I am the son of a former NFL player and I am also a
regular young man continuing to mature and find my way in life. I have
feelings, I have a social life, I have dreams, I have goals, and yes I've made
mistakes, but no I have never sexually assaulted anyone. I have never been
arrested, Police has only questioned me on one occasion during my life and
that was voluntarily, I have never been charged with a crime and yet I have
lost more in 6 months than I have in 22 years, my respect. I haven't sued
anyone for deformation or spoken badly about anyone involved in the
proceedings, I just want to move on. The same way people found guilty of
Sexual Assault are often asked, "How could you live with yourself after
doing that?" this question should be asked to the women who fabricate these
stories with terrible intentions or when put under pressure.
Articles are written based on information they want to use; ESPN's
Paula Lavigne interviewed three people from College of Southern Idaho
who all told her Alexia Mallory's story was not factual at all, yet none of that
was noted. I didn't expect it to be used because anything positive about me
wouldn't be good for her career and wouldn't make good news. There never
was an article written about me being cleared of any wrong doing or
working with underprivileged kids in Tulsa this summer. What about an article titled "Sexual Assault Accuser Caught In Multiple Lies and
Inconsistencies", it probably won't get much media attention I guess. While I
understand the job of being a journalist, I also believe writers should think
about this before writing articles based on false or unproven claims: Put
yourself in my shoes for one day, how do you think my mother and sister
feel? What if I were your son or brother? How would you feel if she came
out and said she lied about everything? Would you be ok with writing
articles with the intent to ruin my life without knowing the truth?
My life has changed drastically since these allegations have been
brought against me. I’ve lost friends, I’ve lost loved ones, my goals have
changed, my image has change and I’ve lost Patrick Swilling Jr. in it all. I’m
not the same person I was before the allegations, I can’t be. I don’t smile the
same, I don’t communicate the same and I don’t have the same confidence
that made me who I was. Most of you will never know how it feels to be
isolated from regularity or have someone you love turn their back on when
you need them the most. Most of you will never get the feeling of a parent
telling your best friend to stay away from you or Women’s basketball coach
telling an entire team to go the other way if you’re anywhere around them.
Most of you all will never know how it feels to cry as your teammates live
out the goal you set for them on national TV. Most of you will never get a phone call from your younger brothers in tears because they’ve read death
threats directed towards you on social media. Most of you will never know
how it feels to have your dreams ruined and everything taken away from you
because of something you didn’t do. False Allegations can ruin a person’s
life by not only sending them to jail but putting them in a public box that
usually can not be broken out of; and being stuck in that box is sometimes
worse than being in jail because you feel free to not be free. While I also feel
I have no reason to feel guilty or hold my head down it’s also an instinctive
reaction when you can’t be comfortable around people you once looked at as
friends or teammates. I am embarrassed and ashamed because regardless
how much I fight to restore myself, this will always linger. I understand the
seriousness of these allegations and I also understand the anger a reader or
anyone can have after digesting the material you all have been given; all I
ask is before you jump to a conclusion, threaten another college student’s
life, send hate mail or write an article about another young man who was
falsely accused of rape with ill intent, remember this letter and remember
how a stranger can affect someone’s life he or she only knows through
articles and interpretations, all developing from something I have never
done.