Philadelphia Eagles offensive lineman Josh Sills was charged with rape and kidnapping in Ohio on Tuesday — two weeks before the football team was set to play in the Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs.
Sills, who is in his rookie season with the NFL, was indicted by a Guernsey County Common Pleas Court grand jury on one count of rape and one count of kidnapping, the Ohio attorney general’s office said in a statement Wednesday.
Both first-degree felony charges stem from an alleged incident in December 2019, when the 6-foot, 6-inch guard was still in college, playing for the West Virginia Mountaineers. According to the indictment, Sills is accused of engaging in consensual sexual activity with a woman and holding her against her will.
“The crime was reported immediately, and the Guernsey County Sheriff’s Office conducted a thorough investigation,” the statement said.
Sills, now 25, is expected in court on Feb. 16 — less than a week after the Super Bowl. The case is being prosecuted in the Special Prosecutions Section of the Ohio Attorney General’s Office.
Bob Lange, senior vice president of communications for the Eagles, told NPR that the team is aware of the allegations. “We are in contact with the league office and are in the process of gathering more information. We have no further comment at this time,” Lange said in an emailed statement.
Sills was signed by the Eagles this past spring as a free agent out of Oklahoma State University. He has played only one game this season.