FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A former University of Miami Hurricane and NFL Hall-of-Famer spoke to the public, Tuesday, to address an investigation into sexual assault allegations against him.
Fifty-one-year-old Michael Irvin, alongside his attorney, spoke out on allegations that he drugged and raped a 27-year-old woman at a Florida hotel. Irvin said he’s innocent and that the evidence proves it.
“This has been the most difficult thing that my family and I have ever had to endure,” said Irvin in a news conference, “to have to live through these heinous, false allegations.”
Irvin was back in his hometown of Fort Lauderdale to celebrate his aunt’s 90th birthday in late March. He was staying at the W Hotel on Fort Lauderdale Beach.
On the night of March 21, Irvin was sitting at the hotel bar with a woman he said he considers a longtime friend.
“This person was treated like a member of his family to my understanding,” said Irvin’s lawyer, Ken Padowitz, “and that’s the way Michael Irvin felt about this person and treated her as such.”
That woman claimed she went back to Irvin’s hotel room. She told police her memory was fuzzy, but she said she was drugged and raped by him.
“This was not a case of consensual versus non-consensual,” said Irvin. “This was a case of I said nothing happened, and someone else said something else happened, and the assault kit and everything supports what I said: that nothing happened, period. Nothing happened, period.”
Padowitz denied the allegations. “Michael Irvin has not violated Florida law. He has done nothing wrong, and the evidence, which is now in and completed, supports everything that Michael Irvin has said.”
“I just want to get this process behind me,” said Irvin, “and my family and me can try to move on and start the healing process.”
The Fort Lauderdale Police Department said, Thursday, that they have closed their investigation into Irvin and have turned their findings over to the State Attorney’s Office.
Irvin has not been arrested.
The SAO said their investigation into the matter remains active. They released a statement, “Prosecutors in our sexual battery unit are continuing their thorough and careful review of this serious matter with the professionalism that our community deserves and expects. Our review is well within the time period required under the law.”
The SAO has 30 to 45 days to file charges in this case.
Back in 2007, Irvin was accused of sexually assaulting a different woman. He was not charged, but he did pay out a settlement.
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