Three former New Mexico State men’s basketball players were charged with felony sex crimes Thursday in connection with hazing incidents that occurred in the fall of 2022, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez announced.

Doctor Bradley and Deshawndre Washington were charged with 13 felonies each, while Kim Aiken Jr. was charged with 11. The players are accused of “holding younger players and student staff against their will while they violated them,” according to a release from Torrez’s office. The alleged acts included “multiple incidents in which they forcefully restrained victims while violently grabbing their genital areas.”

Bradley and Washington’s charges include one count of criminal sexual penetration, five counts of criminal sexual contact, five counts of false imprisonment, one count of conspiracy to commit criminal sexual contact and one count of false imprisonment – conspiracy.

Aiken’s charges include one count of criminal sexual penetration, five counts of false imprisonment, three counts of criminal sexual contact and one count of conspiracy to commit criminal sexual contact and one count of false imprisonment – conspiracy.

“The indictment filed against three former student athletes at New Mexico State University should serve as an unambiguous signal to everyone in this state that hazing will not be tolerated at our educational institutions,” Torrez said in the release. “Players, coaches and administrators at every level are on notice that this type of violent conduct will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. They should also be aware that while this action is an important first step in addressing this inexcusable behavior, our work in correcting the culture that allowed these crimes to occur is far from finished.”

Bradley, a junior, was listed on the men’s basketball roster at Nicholls State as of Thursday.

New Mexico State’s men’s basketball season was shut down in February as the school investigated hazing allegations within the program. Former coach Greg Heiar was fired days after the season was canceled after initially being placed on administrative leave. Mineral Area College, a Missouri junior college, hired Heiar as coach in July.

NMSU previously agreed to pay $8 million to settle a lawsuit brought by two basketball players — Deuce Benjamin (and his father William) and Shakiru Odunewu — who said they were sexually assaulted by teammates. The NMSU board of regents, Heiar, former assistant coach Dominique Taylor and Washington, Bradley and Aiken were named as defendants.

The 2022-23 season also saw a separate incident in November in which former NMSU basketball player Mike Peake was involved in the shooting death of University of New Mexico student Brandon Travis. Peake did not face charges after authorities determined he acted in self-defense.

On Monday, NMSU, Aiken, Bradley, Washington, Heiar, Taylor and athletic director Mario Moccia were named as defendants in a separate lawsuit brought by former player Kyle Feit and two others referred to as John Doe and John Doe II. The two other defendants are another former player and a former volunteer student manager, according to a copy of the suit obtained by local news outlet KTSM. The complaint includes some similar sexual assault allegations to Benjamin and Odunewu’s as well as alleges “a number of men’s basketball players carried guns, taking them into the locker room, on buses to games on other campuses, and elsewhere.”

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