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Player Leaves Poly After Allegations of Rape

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From staff reports

A Long Beach Poly High football player who has been accused of raping a female student on campus will not return to the school, according to Poly co-principal Shawn Ashley.

Brian Banks, a senior arrested July 8 on suspicion of having raped a sophomore earlier in the day during summer school classes, “will not be returning to Poly regardless of the outcome of any judicial procedures,” Ashley said Thursday.

Even if Banks is cleared of wrongdoing, Long Beach Unified School District spokesman Dick Van Der Laan said he would be in violation of the district’s guidance and discipline code because he has reportedly told authorities that he had consensual sex on school grounds. Banks would face an expulsion hearing and automatic revocation of his interdistrict transfer from Artesia High.

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Banks reportedly has been charged with two counts of forcible rape and one count of sodomy by force and is being held in Los Padrinos Juvenile Detention Center in Downey.

A judge will decide Aug. 22 whether the 16-year-old will stand trial as an adult.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound linebacker was expected to be a defensive leader this fall for the Jackrabbits, who have won three consecutive Southern Section Division I football championships.

The prosecutor trying the case for the Los Angeles County District Atty.’s office was in court Thursday and could not be reached for comment.

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