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USC football player from Utah placed on suspension in light of sex assault allegations

Posted at 9:37 PM, Aug 30, 2016
and last updated 2016-08-30 23:38:46-04

SALT LAKE CITY - A USC football player from Utah is under investigation after being accused of sexual assault.

Cottonwood Heights police say the alleged incident occurred last summer.

Osa Masina was a highly touted recruit from Brighton High school. As a freshman, he played in nearly every game at USC in Los Angeles. For now, he’s not set to play again anytime soon.

“We’re going to lose Osa Masina, a reserve linebacker, due to a violation of team rules.  He’s not going to travel with us,” said USC’s head coach Clay Helton.

Helton would not elaborate on the nature of the violation but it soon came to light that police were investigating. A copy of the Cottonwood Heights police report describes the allegations as forcible rape, forcible sodomy, fondling and exploitation via telecommunication device.

“People should wait until the system runs its course and let the facts play out before we draw any conclusions about a young 19-year-old kid,” said defense attorney Greg Skordas.

Skordas has been retained by the Masina family to represent the football player.

“We haven’t been contacted yet by anyone here in Utah to give a statement. No law enforcement, no one from the District Attorney’s office,” Skordas said.

But Masina has been interviewed by investigators. FOX 13 News’ sister station KTLA in Los Angeles reports LAPD did interview Masina and that investigators from Utah went to southern California.

No charges have been filed. However, a search warrant was served at the team’s practice facilities. Skordas said police collected evidence in Utah as well.

According to the Cottonwood Heights police report, a rape kit was collected.

"I can' tell you what our response or defense will be to any allegations, I can only tell you that they are allegations and that people should wait until the system runs its course,” Skordas said.

Masina will not travel with the USC Trojan football team to Texas for their season opener this weekend in Texas.