Marist football player accused of threatening, assaulting teen student no longer on campus

Bryan Vargas is no longer on the Poughkeepsie school's campus after a petition to remove him went viral.

News 12 Staff

Apr 1, 2021, 9:16 PM

Updated 1,129 days ago

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A Marist football player who has been accused of assaulting a teenage student is now no longer a student there.
Bryan Vargas is no longer on the Poughkeepsie school's campus after a petition to remove him went viral.
Vargas is accused of beating his 19-year-old girlfriend Sunday during an off-campus attack that allegedly left the young victim bruised and unable to stand.
Details of the alleged abuse went viral in a Change.org petition to remove him from campus. It was started by the victim's cousin, who claims the teen was beaten in the leg and had a cellphone thrown at her chest.
That petition is up to 18,000 signatures and by Wednesday, Marist issued a statement that Vargas is "no longer a student," adding that the college "has always taken a firm stance on relationship violence and will not tolerate it on our campus or among members of our community."
The victim's cousin went on to accuse Vargas of sending SnapChat threats to "break" the victim's face and publicly shared photos of texts of the alleged remarks.
She says the young woman now has a restraining order.
Marist claims the incident happened out-of-state, and says it is cooperating with law enforcement.
News 12 reached out to Vargas and heard back from his attorney, who had no comment.
Petition supporters say they are outraged that the football player wasn't immediately suspended by Marist, while others say the athlete is innocent until proven guilty.
A representative for Marist said an investigation was immediately launched following the allegations, and that they strongly encourage students to report misconduct of any kind.


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