Antonio Brown finds himself at the center of multiple allegations, and he’s not making the situation any better.
Per Robert Klemko of Sports Illustrated, the star Patriots WR sent harassing text messages to one of his accusers amidst the investigation.
New tonight: Antonio Brown sent our source from Monday’s story menacing group text messages, including a picture of her children with instructions for his associates to investigate her.
Her lawyer wrote the NFL calling for the intimidation to stop. https://t.co/rCTM8WSI6Z pic.twitter.com/QtONzBf7Ig
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) September 20, 2019
Explainer on the process of verifying it was AB who sent these messages:
1. In 2017, AB sent our source his phone number in a DM from his verified IG account in screenshots we reviewed.
2. She communicated with AB and arranged travel, etc via this number that year.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) September 20, 2019
3. She sent us screens of these new messages with the contact in her phone, so the sender showed up as “Antonio Brown”
4. We then asked her to delete AB’s contact from her phone, so the original number would display and we could verify. The number matched the 2017 IG exchange.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) September 20, 2019
5. Our research department turned up names the other four numbers on the chat were registered to. One of them was Brian Davis, a name we knew: it’s one of Brown’s assistants who was named in interviews with people suing Brown for unpaid wages.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) September 20, 2019
6. One more name jumped out: Darren Heitner, Brown’s attorney. We called Heitner, who declined comment other than to answer this question: “Did you advise your client to send those texts.” His answer: “No I did not, and you’ll notice I didn’t respond.”
7. Finally, I called AB
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) September 20, 2019
A man who sounded like AB answered. I introduced myself. He hung up. In a text, I asked him if he would share proof of his claim that the woman asked him for money. He replied “foh clown”
So we’re extremely confident that’s AB who sent the text messages.
— Robert Klemko (@RobertKlemko) September 20, 2019
Via ProFootballTalk –
Antonio Brown may have crossed the line, as far as the NFL and the Patriots are concerned.
Robert Klemko of SI.com reports that Brown has sent harassing text messages to the unnamed accuser who shared allegations with Klemko regarding Brown’s behavior after Brown hired her to paint a mural at his house.
“I’m on my knees painting the [mural], and he walks up to me butt-ass naked, with a hand cloth covering his [penis] and starts having a conversation with me,” the woman told Klemko. “Unfortunately, I’ve been tried [by men] a lot of times, so I just kept my cool and kept painting. After that, it all ended abruptly.”
Brown reportedly has sent a group text message to the woman, accusing her of fabricating a “bull sh-t” story in an effort to “make up some stuff for money.” He also called her a “super broke girl with a lot of kids,” and he encouraged someone to whom Brown refers as “Eric B” to investigate her in order to “see how broke this girl is.”
Brown also sent a screen shot of an Instagram photo of the woman’s children, adding that the woman is “awfully broke clearly.”
On Thursday night, the woman’s lawyer sent a letter to the NFL explaining that Brown is “intimidating and threatening . . . our client, in violation of the NFL Personal Conduct Policy.”
“Our client . . . is understandably frightened by these text messages, which are clearly intended to threaten and intimidate her,” attorney Lisa J. Banks wrote. “While she certainly qualifies as a ‘starving artist,’ she has never approached Mr. Brown, nor will she, about seeking money to compensate her for his sexual misconduct, contrary to his allegations in the text messages.”
Amazingly, Brown’s lawyer was included in the group texts. Darren Heitner tells Klemko that Heitner did not advise Brown to communicate with the woman.
The league responded to the letter within an hour. Investigators will speak to the woman’s lawyers about the situation.
“This sort of intimidation and harassment is the reason victims are often so reluctant to step forward in these cases,” Banks told Klemko. “We have confidence the NFL and the Patriots will step in and end this behavior.”
The Personal Conduct Policy expressly prohibits “[s]talking, harassment, or similar forms of intimidation.” The fact that the behavior has been directed at a woman who has made allegations regarding misconduct makes the situation even worse for Brown. Employers routinely take swift and decisive action against employees who are accused of misconduct and who harass or intimidate those who have made the accusations.
The Patriots, who like any NFL team wouldn’t have signed Brown if they’d known about the sexual assault and rape lawsuit that was filed last week, likewise have not been inclined to terminate the relationship based solely on uncorroborated allegations in a civil action. If Brown sent these messages to a woman who chimed in with her own allegations of misconduct by Brown, that gives the Patriots a much more tangible basis for severing ties with Brown.
Regardless of what the Patriots do, the league can take action against Brown. The aggressive and angry response directed to an accuser could be enough, for example, to cause the Commissioner to believe that Brown “may have violated” the Personal Conduct Policy as to Britney Taylor, justifying immediate placement of Brown on the Commissioner-Exempt list.
However it plays out, Brown apparently has committed yet another serious error of judgment, one that has placed his current employment in real jeopardy.
