Garrett Wittels, the Florida International University baseball star who made national headlines last year with a DiMaggio-esque hitting streak, is about to be all over the interwebs for much less savory reasons. Wittels and two friends have been charged in the rape of two 17-year-old girls in the Bahamas.
Wittels and his friends -- 21-year-olds Robert Rothschild and Jonathan Oberti -- were arrested last week over a sexual assault on December 20 at the Atlantis Resort and Casino in Nassau, reports the Miami Herald.
Wittels and Rothschild face two charges of raping the girls, who are American, while Oberti was charged with raping one of the girls, Bahamian Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez tells the Post.
The men were released on $10,000 bond after a Thursday hearing.
Wittels father tells the Herald that the charges are bogus. He says Wittels and his friends met the girls at a casino and accompanied them to a party, and that the charges only came after they realized Wittels was a well-known athlete.
"The next morning, they found out who [Wittels] was, and that was the road they took," Michael Wittels, an orthopedist in Bay Harbor Islands, told the paper. "He hasn't been found guilty of anything. I hope [the media] doesn't hang him for nearly an allegation. That's all this is."
Wittels extended his hitting streak to 56 games in his last game of the season, two short of the NCAA mark.
His pursuit was set to continue this year, but it's way to early to say how the charges will affect his eligibility.
Read New Times own People Issue feature on Wittels here.
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