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Ex-Players Sentenced in Sex Case : Jurisprudence: Two former members of the Antelope Valley College football team get jail term of 50 days. Charge against a third player is dismissed.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Two former Antelope Valley College football players Thursday were sentenced to 50 days in jail after admitting in court to having sex with a 14-year-old girl.

A similar charge against a third former football player from the college was dismissed.

David A. Brown, 21, and Bradley J. Cole Jr., 22, were ordered to begin serving their sentences Nov. 9 by Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Sandy Kriegler.

Brown and Cole, both wide receivers from Florida who played for Antelope Valley in 1990 and 1991, also were placed on probation for two years and ordered to undergo counseling.

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The two had been charged with having sex with a 14-year-old, a felony with a maximum prison term of three years.

Under a plea-bargain agreement, they were allowed to plead no contest--the legal equivalent of a guilty plea--to a misdemeanor charge of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

Another former player, Gene Washington, had been charged with felony sexual intercourse with a minor in the incident.

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However, prosecutors dismissed the charge against Washington Thursday “because the only witness to link him to having sex with the girl has turned hostile,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Stephen Cooley, who heads the Antelope Valley office.

Washington’s attorney, Stephen M. Hogg, said there “never was any solid evidence to suggest my client had sex with the girl. He’s very relieved that this is over.”

The victim complained to police that Brown and Cole had sex with her while she was drunk at an Oct. 5, 1991, party at the pair’s Lancaster apartment.

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Robert F. Smith, attorney for Brown and Cole, said that, had the case gone to trial, defense witnesses were prepared to testify that the girl told party goers that she was 18 and “she certainly looks 18.”

Cooley said that prosecutors were not persuaded that the girl passed herself off as being 18 years old.

But they decided to permit Brown and Cole to plead to a reduced charge because “the lower charge encompasses the crime that we charged them with, and because these young men do not have criminal records.”

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