Football's Image Keeps Getting Worse: Hannah Graham edition

Jesse Matthew, suspect in Hannah Graham abduction

Daily Mail (UK)

Matthew was expelled from the Christian university founded by Jerry Falwell in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 2002, following the alleged sex attack on a female student but was not charged with any crime, former teammates said.

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As a gifted football player, 'LJ' - as he likes to be known - won a sports scholarship to Liberty University after he was named Charlottesville's 'Athlete of the Year' in 1999. 

HuffPost

Surveillance videos showed [Hannah Graham] walking, and at some points running, past a pub and a service station and then onto the Downtown Mall, a seven-block pedestrian strip where police believe she entered a bar with Matthew. The video that has been publicly released does not show the two entering the bar together.

The university said Matthew had been employed at the University of Virginia Medical Center since Aug. 12, 2012, as a patient technician in the operating room.

The charges against the 6-foot-2, 270-pound Matthew surprised Dave Hansen, who first met him about 11 years ago when Hansen served as an assistant pastor at an area church.

"I always thought he was a gentle giant, just a nice guy," Hansen said. "He seemed genuine with his faith and spirituality. ... I don't see him doing this at all, but that's usually the case, I guess." [Nice. I suppose they don't teach about the presumption of innocence in seminary.]

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Matthew attended Liberty University from 2000 to 2002, said officials with the Lynchburg school founded by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell. The school's athletics website listed him as a defensive lineman on the football team.

More recently, he also served as a part-time volunteer for the football team at The Covenant School, a private Christian pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school in Charlottesville. Officials said his involvement with the school began last month following interviews with the athletic director and head football coach, as well as normal background and reference checks.

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While Matthew has had past brushes with the law, the details of those cases are not clear.

Online court records show Matthew was convicted of trespassing in 2010 but provide no details about the incident. Details also were unavailable for two other charges of assault and attempted grand larceny relating to a 2009 incident that were not prosecuted. Matthew, who had a taxi permit from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles from 2007 through 2010, also has several traffic infractions, records show.