Packer Receiver Lofton Is Accused of Sexual Assault, Released on Bail

James Lofton, a wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers, was accused Thursday of sexually assaulting a woman in a stairwell but was later released on $10,000 bail pending formal charges next Tuesday.

Lofton posted the bond and left the Brown County courthouse with his wife and attorney. He declined to comment.

Packer Coach Forrest Gregg suspended the nine-year veteran without pay, saying the action “must be taken at this time for the good of the team and the Packer organization.”

Gregg said the suspension was effective for the team’s final game Saturday against the New York Giants and would be reviewed following the season.

Lofton was arrested at home about 7:30 a.m. and booked at the Brown County Jail on a tentative charge of second-degree sexual assault, Deputy Police Chief Robert Langan said.

Police Capt. Thomas Hinz said at a news conference that Lofton, 30, met the 30-year-old, out-of-town woman Wednesday night at the Top Shelf nightclub.

Hinz said Lofton and the woman left the bar on an elevator after it closed at 1 a.m., and the woman said Lofton forced her into a stairwell at ground level and made her perform oral sex. “There was some force involved,” Hinz said. It was physical force.”

A first-round draft choice out of Stanford in 1978, Lofton and another team member were accused of sexually assaulting a Milwaukee nightclub dancer in October 1984. No charges were filed and only Lofton publicly acknowledged the incident.

The woman in that incident asked that a judge file a criminal complaint, and her request is pending while the Wisconsin Supreme Court decides the constitutionality of the governing statute.

Packer defensive back Mossy Cade faces a Jan. 26 Brown County Circuit Court trial on three counts of second-degree sexual assault. A 42-year-old Houston woman said Cade assaulted her in his De Pere, Wis., home in November, 1985.

Last week, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported that Packer defensive lineman Charles Martin had apologized and paid $500 to a woman who said he indecently grabbed her in a bar.