A woman has accused Jacksonville Jaguars defensive tackle Marcell Dareus of assault, according to a civil lawsuit filed July 6.
The lawsuit, filed by a Texas woman, details an alleged romantic encounter with the lineman in April in Hotel Zara in Houston.
The woman, named as Jane Doe in the lawsuit, alleges she contracted herpes following sexual intercourse with Dareus and suffered physical and emotional injury.
According to the lawsuit, the woman “woke up in physical pain and [was] unable to remember anything” about her first night in a hotel with Dareus. She describes having consensual sex with Dareus twice after that with no warning about the possibility of herpes.
“The defendant committed aggravated assault by knowingly transmitting herpes,” the complaint reads, “infecting her with a sexually transmitted disease while she was unconscious and therefore without her consent.”
Dareus has not yet filed a court answer to the case in Duval County where he lives.
A second lawsuit against Dareus remains pending in Hillsborough County.
In December, a Las Vegas woman claimed the player sexually assaulted her at a “mansion” party in Lutz, Florida near Tampa in early 2017. The incident was not reported to police, according to her attorney, and no criminal charges are pending against Dareus.
The December lawsuit claims she awoke in a bed with Dareus next to her and her clothes disheveled, exposing her breasts and genitals. The complaint states she determined “that there had been sexual physical acts upon her person” and “ran frantically out of the room.”
The complaint says she returned to Las Vegas two days later “still distraught and without speaking to anyone about the incident.”
“After several months of suffering though the emotional stage of these unfortunate events,” the woman’s attorney, Joseph Williams said about the 11 month delay in filing, “She finally gathered the courage to come forward.”
Dareus filed a motion to dismiss the Hillsborough County case which is scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on August 9.
First Coast News reached out to Dareus through his agent and through the Jaguars management. Dareus has not responded. A Jaguars representative declined to comment on the matter. Dareus was not with the team at the time of the alleged incident in Lutz; he was playing for the Buffalo Bills.
Dareus was acquired by the Jaguars in late October, after he spent several seasons with the Buffalo Bills.
While with the Bills, he was sent home in August shortly before the team’s preseason game against Baltimore for violating some disciplinary rule. At the time, both the team and Dareus declined to specify what Dareus did to warrant the disciplinary action
The Jags acquired him two months later. At the time, Jaguars Executive Vice President of Football Operations Tom Coughlin said in a statement, "Marcell Dareus is an experienced player who has been productive throughout his career. He will be a good fit with our team and our defense. We expect him to be stout against the run and to be able to put pressure on opposing quarterbacks. This was a great opportunity to acquire a proven player who can come in and help us immediately."
Dareus had a couple of discipline problems late in the 2013 season, a pair of arrests for suspicion of drug possession in 2014 and a resulting one-game suspension in 2015. He was also suspended for the first four games of the 2016 season for another NFL substance-abuse policy violation
The former All-Pro lineman appeared in 12 games (including the playoffs) and produced 30 tackles and three sacks following his October arrival in Jacksonville.