Buckeyes OL recruit charged with imposition

CLEVELAND – Ohio State football recruit Chris Carter was arrested Tuesday for sexual imposition after a complaint he fondled a girl while pretending to measure her for an ROTC uniform.

Police are investigating whether he might have fondled as many as eight girls. Carter's attorney refutes the charges and said his client is innocent.

Carter, a 6-foot-4, 325-pound offensive senior lineman at John F. Kennedy High School in Cleveland, was expected to sign with the Buckeyes on Wednesday, the first day recruits can sign Division I letters of intent to play football.

A 15-year-old victim, also a student at the school, told Cleveland police on Tuesday that Carter came to one of her classes and asked her to go with him. He told her he needed to measure her for an ROTC uniform and took her to a room behind the school's auditorium.

"Once inside the room, (Carter) asked the victim to take off her sweat shirt and shirt so he could take her measurements," the police report said. "He cut off the lights ... and stated 'I need you to take your bra off.' The arrested male than put his arms under her arms from behind and attempted to pull her bra up."

She told police she refused and left the room, then reported the incident to school officials who contacted police.

According to police, Carter admitted to them that he had fondled other girls under the pretext of measuring them. The victim had said he had a book in which he wrote down measurements. Police asked Carter to provide the book and he did. It revealed as many as eight victims.

He was arrested and spent Tuesday night in Cleveland City Jail.

Ohio State spokeswoman Shelly Poe said the university was not permitted to speak about a recruit because of NCAA rules. Football coach Jim Tressel was to meet with reporters later Wednesday to discuss the recruiting class.

Carter's attorney, Harvey Bruner, said, "He is not guilty and we will proceed with it. I know that he's innocent. He's a nice kid."

Carter had verbally committed to Ohio State last March, the Buckeyes' third recruit in the 2011 recruiting class. He had also considered Toledo, Miami (Ohio) and Akron.

Bruner said he understood that the Ohio State scholarship offer was still in force.

"The mother talked to Jim Tressel," he said. "And they are just holding it open for him."