Arizona QB Jayden de Laura settles sexual assault claim from high school, per Hawaii court documents
Arizona quarterback Jayden de Laura was accused of sexual assault while in high school in Honolulu, according to an ongoing civil case against him, a teammate and his alma mater.
The complaint, filed in December 2021—roughly a month before he transferred to Arizona—alleges that de Laura and Kamo’i Latu, a safety at Wisconsin, sexually assaulted a female acquaintance in October 2018 in a parking garage at St. Louis School following a playoff game. Both players were in their junior years at St. Louis.
Court documents indicate de Laura and Latu entered into mediation with the plaintiff and “reached a settlement agreement” in December 2022 that is still pending before the court. The case remains open, as St. Louis School is fighting claims of negligence.
Requests for comment to Arizona’s sports information office were not immediately returned. It is not known if the school was aware of the claims before he transferred.
According to the complaint, both de Laura and Latu “were charged with and eventually pled guilty to” second-degree sexual assault, a Class B felony in Hawaii. That is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but the complaint claims “neither received any jail time pursuant to their guilty pleas.”
A report by HawaiiNewsNow.com says the case was handled in juvenile court, since de Laura and Latu were both under 18. The civil complaint does not mention this, nor does it provide dates for when charges were filed, guilty pleas were entered or punishment was handed down.
Attorneys for Latu, who spent two seasons at Utah before transferring to Wisconsin last year, filed in a response in November that “the alleged sexual contact was voluntary.” Attorneys for de Laura have not filed a formal answer to the complaint.
De Laura joined Arizona in January 2022, coming to the Wildcats after spending two seasons at Washington State.
Source: Arizona Desert Swarm
