Ex-NC State sports medicine director arrested after indictment

Authorities confirmed the arrest of former NC State sports medicine director Robert Michael Murphy on Wednesday evening after a grand jury indicted him last week on multiple felony and misdemeanor counts involving the sexual abuse of male athletes he had treated.

The grand jury handed down sealed indictments Sept. 14, but the charges remained secret until Murphy could be located. Courts often seal indictments to give authorities time to arrest suspects or prevent them from fleeing the jurisdiction. Murphy's North Carolina arrest warrant listed him as an "out-of-state fugitive."

"We are very disappointed that the Wake County District Attorney's office would choose to prosecute based on a changing story," Jared Hammett, Murphy's attorney, said in a statement Thursday. "Four years ago law enforcement concluded there was not enough to support charges. ... We, as always, believe that when people hear the actual facts of what occurred, Mr. Murphy will be cleared and the truth will be paramount."

Portions of the sealed file were inadvertently posted to the Wake County, North Carolina, court website last week then quickly removed before being reposted and again removed. At that point, ESPN was able to confirm that Murphy faced at least two felony indictments for sexual penetration or contact under the guise of medical treatment and four other indictments for sexual battery.

"We are aware of the charges filed by Wake County against Robert Murphy," NC State said in a statement. "We will cooperate with law enforcement in this matter. As this is an ongoing legal matter, we cannot comment further at this time."

Murphy is charged under a 2019 North Carolina law that made abuse under the guise of medical treatment a felony. He was taken into custody Wednesday in Ocala, Florida, where he currently resides.

The Marion County, Florida, sheriff's office listed Murphy as having been booked shortly after 9 p.m. ET Wednesday. The full list of charges posted on Murphy's inmate file includes 23 counts of sexual battery and nine counts of felony sexual contact. No bail was posted. A photo depicts him in red-and-white inmate clothing.

"We appreciate the hard work of law enforcement and the courage of the victims in this case. We are intent on seeking justice," Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman said in a statement Thursday.

Allegations of abuse by Murphy first came to light in 2022 after former men's soccer player Ben Locke filed a criminal complaint with campus police, according to a police report obtained by ESPN.

Locke, who has spoken out publicly, said the abuse started in 2015, after he was injured as a 17-year-old freshman. Thirty-one other men have joined 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.

The suit contends that administrators failed to stop the abuse despite being warned about Murphy's behavior as early as 2012, the year the former athletic trainer started at the school.

Kerry Sutton, a lawyer for the former NC State athletes, said the criminal charges "validate Ben Locke and 33 other former Wolfpack athletes and bolster their claims of being sexually abused at NCSU."

A Wake County judge dismissed the 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 judge also dismissed the claims against Murphy, determining that the statute of limitations had expired. The men have appealed the dismissal.

NC State launched a 2022 Title IX investigation that 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.

Murphy resigned from his role at NC State in spring 2022 before the Title IX investigation was completed.