Scooby Johnson, Michigan's Mr. Basketball in 2020, charged with rape; he's no longer at Butler

Carlos "Scooby" Johnson, the 2020 Mr. Basketball winner in Michigan who was a prized recruit for Butler University, has been charged with rape, attempted rape and sexual battery, crimes that could land him in prison for more than 30 years.

Prosecutors in Marion County, Indiana, filed charges Thursday, after an alleged incident in Johnson's dorm room in February, late in a college basketball season that Johnson, a 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward, did not play because of a torn ACL in his left knee.

Johnson, who starred at Benton Harbor High School in southwest Michigan and was the state's Division 2 player of the year as a senior, is no longer enrolled at Butler, the school announced Thursday. He has not been allowed on campus since the alleged incident.

"The university takes these allegations very seriously and has a zero-tolerance policy for sexual misconduct, violence, and harassment, per our Sexual Misconduct Policy," the Butler athletic department said in a statement. "Our top priority is the safety of our students and campus community, and the university provides support and resources to all students. Out of respect to the students’ federal privacy rights and the ongoing criminal process, the university is not at liberty to divulge additional information at this time."

Johnson is accused of raping a female student in the late-night hours of Wednesday, Feb. 3, in his Irvington House Dormitory room. According to a Butler University Police Department investigation, the female was looking for a friend and knocking on several doors in the dorm, when she knocked on Johnson's, and Johnson answered and invited her in.

According to police, Johnson was playing a basketball video game on the Xbox, and the female was giving him tips on how to play, before she fell asleep on his bed. According to the woman, when she woke up, Johnson was touching her breasts and her vaginal area "over and under her clothing." The woman told police Johnson forced her to perform oral sex; she said she stopped the first time, and he pushed her head back down. She then said Johnson pulled her pants down and her underwear to her knees, and they had sex.

She told police Johnson stopped, pulled his boxers and pants back up, and offered to walk her back to her room. She told police she told Johnson he didn't need to do that, but he insisted, according to the charging documents.

According to the charging documents, surveillance video from the dorm shows them walking back to her room, and the female student waving her arms to separate herself from Johnson. The woman walked into her room and whispered to her roommate, "He raped me" or "he attempted to rape me," according to police interviews.

Police were called in the early morning hours of Thursday, Feb. 4, and according to the charging documents, found the female student in the bathroom, with several friends, her hair "disheveled," and not wearing clothing from the waist down. She was experiencing "significant vaginal bleeding," according to police.

Police then went to Johnson's dorm room. Johnson answered, let them in and said, "I should have told that b---- to leave," according to police.

A judge issued a search warrant; blood on Johnson's boxers was a match for the female student, according to the charging documents. She was taken to the hospital, where a rape-kit was administered. Doctors observed a tear, blood clotting and blood near the entrance of her vagina, and an abrasion on her right inner thigh.

Johnson said the female student pulled his fingers into her vagina, and said the female student initiated and willingly performed oral sex on him. Johnson told police he didn't have vaginal intercourse with her.

Johnson's roommate, identified as M.T. and a basketball teammate by police (the only match would be another freshman at the time, guard Myles Tate), was in the room during the alleged incident, but was watching YouTube and didn't notice anything. He told police if he had seen something inappropriate, he would've stopped it. Tate told police that Johnson is a "great person, a Christian and has treated him well," according to the charging documents

The charges of rape and attempted rape carry prison sentences of up to 16 years, and the sexual battery charge carries a maximum sentence of 2.5 years. All three are felonies.

Johnson was a runaway winner of the 2020 Mr. Basketball award in Michigan, averaging 25 points, 11 rebounds, six blocks and three steals before the season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. His sophomore season, Johnson guided Benton Harbor to the Class B state championship; he hit the winning 3-pointer with 14 seconds left, and scored 24 in the game. He never did play a game at Butler.

A lawyer for Johnson wasn't listed on the charging documents filed Thursday.

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tpaul@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @tonypaul1984