Charges dismissed against VCU’s Alie-Cox
Fred Jeter | 6/5/2015, 6:58 p.m. | Updated on 6/5/2015, 10:53 p.m.
A misdemeanor assault charge against Virginia Commonwealth University basketball center Mo Alie-Cox has been dismissed after his accuser admitted her claim against him was false and based on mistaken identity.
She also apologized in a letter presented in court.
Morgan Kaye had filed a police report claiming Alie-Cox had punched her in the face during an altercation at a Shockoe Slip nightclub on April 3, the same night Shaka Smart resigned as VCU coach.
But surveillance video from Society Social Club in the 1400 block of East Cary Street showed Kaye fighting with a woman while Alie-Cox stood nearby with his back turned.
Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Michael Herring said, “The footage did not show Mo Alie-Cox striking the woman at all.”
Richmond General District Court Judge Eugene Cheek Sr. dismissed the charge on Tuesday after prosecutor Cynthia Micklem said Kaye had written a letter apologizing to Alie-Cox for her “false accusation and the subsequent defamation of your character.”
She also wrote that she didn’t intend to create “this situation of embarrassment for you, Virginia Commonwealth University, the basketball team or myself … I clearly mistook your identity and have never felt guiltier about this whole situation.”
Alie-Cox is a 6-foot-6, 250-pound rising junior from Northern Virginia. As a sophomore he started all 36 games, averaging 7.4 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.9 blocked shots.
