Jamaican track and field athlete Xavier Boland faces a possible 12-year prison term after he was charged with three counts of felony invasion of privacy. Authorities alleged he secretly recorded three people having sex without their knowledge or consent, a felony.
According to reports, 24-year-old Boland, an honor-roll student at Lindenwood University, committed the felony on February 18 in St. Charles, Missouri, where he lives.
Recordings found on phone
The reports said court documents indicated that the recordings were found on the Lindenwood University senior’s phone after a woman alleged that he not only showed her a video and a photo of her having sex with Boland’s roommate but sexually assaulted her and threatened to post recordings he’d made of her on social media when she resisted.
The court documents also say that Boland’s roommate was unaware that he was in the recordings, as was another woman who was also recorded having sex.
In woman’s bedroom
The police report said a woman who brought the matter to light was asleep in the house where Boland lives and awoke to find him in the bedroom. She raised an alarm, got dressed and told the honor student to leave the bedroom.
The woman claimed Boland told her he had seen her naked many times and played a video on his phone which showed her engaged in sexual encounters. Boland told her he had more recordings of her having sex in the bedroom.
Threatens to publish video
The woman then tried to leave the house, but Boland allegedly threatened to ruin her life by publishing the videos on a public forum. The police report further stated that Boland then took the woman to his bedroom where he then undressed her and began fondling her before she fought him off and fled. The victim then filed a report with authorities.
Boland allowed police to search his phone and the videos by the St. Charles County Cyber Crime Task Force. The victim identified herself on one of the videos. The male acquaintance, who also spoke with police, identified himself in two videos. A third victim, who had a similar account as the others, was also identified and contacted.
Boland is said to have admitted to recording the victims without their approval. He also claimed the woman fabricated the sexual assault claim to get authorities to make him erase the videos.
Boland was arrested and charged with three counts of invasion of privacy, though no charges were filed in relation to the alleged sexual assault. He was also ordered to surrender his passport.
If convicted, Boland faces up to four years in prison per count on the current charges.
Was named Intercollegiate Athlete of the Week
Just last week Boland was named the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association’s (MIAA) Men’s Indoor Field Athlete of the Week. At the Missouri Collegiate Open he set an NCAA provisional mark of 5.20m, which is the second-best in NCAA Division II this season and the top mark in the MIAA.
The university has not said whether he remains a student or on the track team, citing student privacy law, but said in a statement that the school “is committed to the safety of its students and the campus’.
