Three months after guard Venoy Overton talked at length about restoring his reputation in the wake of a suspension that sidelined him for the Pac-10 tournament, the recent Washington graduate is in trouble with the law again.
Police arrested Overton on Thursday for allegedly promoting prostitution after an investigation sparked by a conversation undercover officers had with an 18-year-old woman standing by a highway in Kent, Wash. last month. The woman said Overton brought her to the area a total of three times, gave her specific instructions of what sex acts to perform and how much to charge and demanded she give a portion of the money she earned to him.
Overton has not been charged, but he was held in prison overnight and is expected to appear before a judge on Friday. The offense is punishable with a $10,000 fine and up to five years in prison.
"I have been informed of the arrest of Venoy Overton and I am extremely disappointed," Lorenzo Romar said in a statement Thursday night.� "My staff and I spent an extraordinary amount of time and energy attempting to mentor Venoy prior to his recent graduation, so this news is especially troubling."
The second arrest of Overton is an embarrassing moment for a Washington program that hasn't endured too many under Romar.
In March, Overton was charged with supplying alcohol to a minor in a Jan. 8 incident involving a pair of 16-year-old girls. One of the girls accused Overton of pressuring her into sex, but King County prosecutors felt the evidence was insufficient to file charges.
Whether Overton should have played during Pac-10 play and in the NCAA tournament was a subject of heated debate among Washington fans and Seattle-area media. It was a poorly enough kept secret that Overton was at the center of a sexual misconduct investigation that rival fans from Oregon and Washington State unleashed derogatory chants at him during games.
In an interview with the Seattle Times prior to Washington's opening-round NCAA tournament victory in March, Overton portrayed himself as a victim and spoke of restoring his reputation.
"I feel like just all that being said was kind of a bigger punishment than sitting out, from the fact this is my hometown and just reputation," Overton said. "You don't want the reputation of being known for that. ... So I feel like it was a bigger punishment that it turned out like that."
Now Overton's reputation has gone from bad to worse. And it's going to take a lot more than empty talk to restore it this time.
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