UPDATE: Kennedy is a part-time transfer student who enrolled in nine hours at MTSU this semester. This was his first on MTSU’s campus.
UPDATE: George Davon Kennedy Jr. is in Bay Co. Jail and was charged with first degree sexual battery by multiple perpetrators and is being held with a $75,000 bond.
Middle Tennessee State University has officially confirmed George Davon Kennedy, who was arrested in Dekalb Co., Georgia on Tuesday night, is a student of the university.
Kennedy, 21, a freshman in Behavioral and Health Sciences, was one of three suspects arrested in connection to a gang rape that occurred beachside behind Spinnaker in Panama City Beach, Florida, according to the incident report filed by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office in Florida.
He was picked up on April 14 in Dekalb County, where he was reportedly with family, and is currently being held as a “fugitive for justice” in Dekalb County Jail without bond, according to the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office.
According to a press release from the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, Kennedy was the third suspect seen in video footage of the gang rape in PCB at which point a warrant for his arrest was obtained. BCSO Investigators learned of Kennedy’s family in Georgia and made contact with the Dekalb County Sheriff’s Office.
The DCSO located Kennedy in their county and arrested him on a charge of Principle to Sexual Battery by Multiple Perpetrators, according to the release.
The incident report details that video footage of the incident “depicts several individuals sexually battering a female that appears to be incapacitated.” The Bay County Sheriff’s Office then made contact with the female victim who advised she had come to PCB and “recalls that she blacked out at some point during the day and didn’t recall much about that day, but remembers having to get assistance to get back to where she was staying,” according to the incident report.
The video was obtained by BCSO from the Troy Police Department of Troy in Alabama, according to a BSCO press release. The Troy Police Department found the video while investigating a shooting in their jurisdiction.
According to the release, the BCSO was able to identify two suspects and arrest them. The suspects arrested were Delonte’ Martistee, 22, of Bainbridge, Georgia and Ryan Austin Calhoun, 23, of Mobile, Alabama. Both were charged with Sexual Battery by Multiple Perpetrators.
The investigation is ongoing and BCSO anticipates further arrests.
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The recent controversy over an MTSU student being arrested on rape charges has sparked a lot of conversation about sexual assault here at MTSU. Even though the incident did not occur on MTSU property or even in the state of Tennessee, I believe that this crime will bring attention to the growing problem of sexual assault amongst college students. I strongly encourage MTSU students and faculty to begin to think about the issue of sexual assault and rape. If our campus chooses to speak up and begin to discuss how to prevent crimes like this from happening, we could be leaders in the college revolution against sexual violence. One of our own students being involved in a gang rape assault should be an embarrassment on MTSU as an institution. We should begin to educate all of our students about how to speak out for victims of sexual violence and how to report any sexual assaults that they hear about. By educating students and faculty on properly handling sexual violence, MTSU can begin to take steps toward becoming a safe campus for all students. No student at any college campus should feel threatened about sexual violence during their lifetime; especially while they are at their university.