Former Auburn University swimmer Reid Mikuta was arrested for rape on Tuesday in Lee County, Alabama, according to the local sheriff’s office website.
Court documents released Wednesday revealed that the 21-year-old’s arrest was the result of a felony Lee County Grand Jury indictment earlier this month. The grand jury ruled that Mikuta engaged in sexual intercourse “with a member of the opposite sex who was incapable of consent by reason of being physically helpless or mentally incapacitated.”
If convicted, a first-degree rape charge in Alabama carries a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Police reportedly opened an investigation into Mikuta last December after receiving a report from a female saying she was raped by an acquaintance on Oct. 9. Lee County Circuit Judge Christopher Hughes reportedly recused himself because his law clerk is married to an Auburn Title IX investigator with knowledge of the case.
An Auburn spokesperson said that Mikuta is no longer a student at the university and was never enrolled this fall. Auburn also denied SwimSwam’s open records request for more information on the university’s investigation into Mikuta, citing FERPA.
In July, Mikuta entered the transfer portal for the 2024-25 season after a planned Olympic redshirt year this season.
One of the top breaststroke specialists in the NCAA, Mikuta placed 10th in the 100 breast and 25th in the 200 breast as a junior at the 2023 NCAA Championships in March, four months after police received the delayed sexual assault report.
Related: How a Trump-Era Title IX Rule Helped Reid Mikuta Compete at Auburn Amid Rape Inquiry
Mikuta owns individual Auburn school records in both the 100 breast (51.06 from 2023 NCAAs) and 200 breast (1:52.09 from 2022 SEC Champs). At the 2023 SEC Championships, he placed 3rd in the 100 breast, 6th in the 200 breast, and 9th in the 200 IM. At U.S. Nationals this summer, he placed 23rd in the 100-meter breast.
It looks like he is already out of jail. I guess he made bail.
As well he should – Innocent for now and perhaps in the future
Bail is a constitutional right if you’re not a murderer or flight risk so…
Missoula by Jon Krakauer provides an in depth analysis of rape on college campuses and how the justice system more often than not fails the victims…
Yale would like a word.
Title IX found him responsible and he is no longer allowed on Auburns campus… Coach Ryan gave him coaches award after he was found responsible by Title IX.
Some people are very quick to grab their pitchforks and torches when a mere accusation is tossed out. You must be the descendants of people who burned witches.
Shame on Auburn coaches and AD for allowing this kid to continue to swim all year and represent the university at NCAA’s. You can’t throw enough toilet paper on this to cover it up.
Why did the parents allow their son to continue to swim the 2023 season? As a parent your number one job is to protect your child and to teach them right from wrong. The parents should have pulled their son out of college the moment they learned of this incident. When the parents and coaches put athletics above all else you create monsters. If a grand jury has enough evidence to bring charges than I am safe in calling him a monster. Whether or not he is found guilty is up to a jury to decide.
“than I am safe in calling him a monster”
No you are not. Unless you were present when the alleged incident took place, you have absolutely no idea what actually transpired. None of us does.
The standard for justice still remains “innocent until proven guilty”. We would all do well to remember that.
The standard for the government to punish people is “innocent until proven guilty”, not for individuals to consider someone awful. Someone doesn’t even have to have committed a crime to be considered a monster.
Common sense or decency, perhaps some measure of both, would dictate that you would be better served to reserve judgement until all the facts are presented and the verdict is handed down.
I presume DukeSwim could attest to that. After all, the three Duke Lacrosse players were indicted by a Durham County Grand Jury as well. I’m sure former Duke President, Richard Brodhead, and the “Gang of 88” Duke faculty members felt “safe” in publicly condemning the players, too.
If only they had reserved their condemnation until all the facts were known, Duke could have saved millions in the defamation lawsuit.
Sure, you are entitled to your opinion…but you know what they say about opinions.
For every time someone brings up the Duke lacrosse case, there are hundreds of credible accusations of sexual assault on college campuses across the US. Many victims are afraid to pursue justice, some don’t really even try. One of my daughter’s best friends was date raped on campus at a major NC university. I’m so tired of people excusing sexual assault because of this one incident that appears to have been a complete anomaly….
Uh, there was a victim. She knows what happened.
I suspect she does. The rest of us are just guessing. So put your pitchfork down and wait for the verdict, Allan.
If and if he did this then of course he deserves the consequences; however, he has yet to be tried and convicted. Why are you so quick to convict and throw away the key? Is he not deserving of the right that we all hold?
My heart goes out the young person who has been hurt, this person deserves all our respect in this process.
Ah yes, the notoriously impartial grand jury process where they hear all the “evidence” the government feeds them and nothing more.
Now seems that everyone and their mom knew that this guy was a sexual predator yet no one ever mentioned it before the news broke. This leads me to two posible explanations, either people here are a bunch of cowards who didnt have the balls to report his bad behaviour before he commited a crime or you didnt know anything and you are making up stories. I dont know which of them is worse.
People need to simply relax, none of us have any idea what is actually going on and what is going on behind the scenes.If it turns out he’s guilty and is CONVICTED (a word that has yet to appear in any of these articles) then he will probably go to prison for 25 years. If it does turn out that he’s innocent, I would say it’s a real bad look on swim swam for posting this, they were the first to post this and now its on espn..the equilibrium is always messed up, there are a bunch of rapists free nowadays because people don’t come out and there are also a bunch of people locked up for crimes they didn’t… Read more »
Yeah he’s not going away for 25 years even if convicted. The days of that happening in the criminal justice system are over. Most likely time, registration, treatment, and a long stretch on probation.
Danny Masterson (actor who played “Hyde” on That 70’s Show) just got 30 years for this crime.
Non sequitor of the century
Lol.
He’s white and it’s Alabama.
He won’t see 1 year much less 25 if convicted.