NC State's former director of sports medicine faces 32 counts of sexually abusing 14 male athletes, according to 14 separate indictments unsealed by a North Carolina district court.
The Wake County, North Carolina, grand jury handed up the indictments on Sept. 14, but the charges remained sealed under court order until after Robert Murphy's arrest Wednesday in Ocala, Florida. The indictments were unsealed Thursday.
Murphy made his first appearance in a Marion County courthouse Thursday and waived extradition. There is currently no formal timeline for his return to North Carolina. Wake County prosecutor Lorrin Freeman told a Raleigh TV station that individuals are typically returned within 72-96 hours after waiving extradition.
NC State said in a statement to ESPN that it was "aware of the charges filed" and that the university would "cooperate with law enforcement in this matter."
Attorneys who currently represent Murphy in a civil lawsuit said in a statement to ESPN that they "believe that when people hear the actual facts of what occurred, Mr. Murphy will be cleared and the truth will be paramount."
Murphy is charged with nine felony counts of sexual contact under the guise of medical treatment, an offense North Carolina made a felony in 2019, and 23 misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.
The athletes ranged in age from 18 to 22 years old at the time of the alleged incident, with the first reported incident occurring in October 2016 and the most recent in the fall of 2021. Murphy resigned from his role at NC State in spring 2022 after the school launched a Title IX investigation into allegations of abuse.
Allegations of abuse by Murphy first came to light after former men's soccer player Ben Locke filed a criminal complaint with campus police, according to a document obtained by ESPN.
Kerry Sutton, a lawyer for the former athletes, said the criminal charges "bolster their claims of being sexually abused at NCSU."
A Wake County judge dismissed the civil lawsuit in June for procedural reasons, ruling that North Carolina law requires civil claims against state institutions to be filed with the state's Industrial Commission. The dismissal is under appeal.
Locke, who has spoken out publicly, said the abuse started after he was injured as a 17-year-old freshman. Thirty-one men are now part of the civil lawsuit against Murphy and eight university officials claiming the athletes were abused under the guise of medical treatment or subjected to overly intrusive drug tests. Two more former athletes say they plan to join the lawsuit.
A 2022 Title IX investigation by NC State determined Murphy's conduct while treating Locke for sports injuries was "unwelcome and of a sexual nature," "pervasive" and "sufficiently severe," according to redacted documents obtained by ESPN.
The investigation focused solely on Locke's allegations and determined by a preponderance of the evidence that Murphy made repeated nonconsensual contact of a sexual nature with Locke's genitals with his bare hands or fingers during therapeutic massage sessions.