Do They Have Nice Jails in Seattle?

The Seattle P-I (which I believe is now an online-only daily newspaper) is reporting that Seattle Sounders FC wunderkind Freddy Montero is being accused of stalking and sexual assault.

"According to a law enforcement report about the incident, the 23-year-old woman told police on March 31 that she saw Montero in a car near her home in Sammamish. The report stated that she feared for her safety because Montero allegedly had sexually assaulted her in Bellevue the week before on March 22, which she had reported to the Bellevue Police Department."

Umm, yeah. That doesn't sound too good.

Montero, who had 3 goals in his first 2 matches, did not travel with Seattle for the their match tomorrow against Toronto. A spokesperson for the team stated this is due only to the fact that Freddy has the flu, and that while they are aware of the allegations they support their budding star and will have no comments on an ongoing police investigation.

Both the Bellevue PD and the King's County Sheriff's Office have declined to comment, although the former have admitted that they are investigating a sexual assault that took place on March 22, 2009. The Seattle P-I noted that no charges have as yet been filed against Montero, and there is no record of an arrest by either law enforcement agency. In addition, the Sheriff's Office has stated that a brief investigation concluded that no crime had been committed on March 31st (the date of the alleged stalking offense).

So what is really going on here? The Sounders' first match was against the NY Red Bull on March 19th and was held in Seattle, so Freddy was almost certainly in town on March 22nd (which was a Sunday). Perhaps Freddy was out celebrating his brace and met the young woman in question? The Sounders' next match, against Real Salt Lake on March 28th, was also held in Seattle. So again, Freddy was most likely still in town on March 31st (this past Tuesday). Maybe he thought he would drive over and see if he could recapture the romance?

Obviously, these are still just allegations, and as with any case involving high-profile (alright, semi-profile) athletes we may never know the truth. There will be some who insist that this young woman chased after Freddy to "bed a star" (if any sexual contact even occurred) and then regretted her choice, while others will insist that Freddy's ego got the best of him and he wouldn't take "NO" for an answer. The fact that Freddy seems to have been cleared of the stalking charge does not mean that the allegation of sexual assault is false. But unfortunately the fact that a sexual assault has been alleged does mean that the allegation is true.

One thing is for certain - this story will definitely get bigger over the next few days.

Added bonus: Freddy Montero's father was apparently a police officer in Colombia.