"I woke up the next morning and heard five different stories, that a girl got raped, a girl got jumped, a girl got beat up and I heard by the afternoon that they were looking for three suspects," Mbakwe said. "And then I heard I was one of them. I brushed it off because I didn't do anything."
Two weeks later, Mbakwe was called into the basketball office at Miami Dade and told a warrant had been issued for his arrest.
"My heart just dropped," Mbakwe said. "It was a whole new world after that. My emotions were all over the place. I said, 'this can't happen.' I watch a lot of Law and Order and the first thing I thought about were these people that spend 30 years in jail over crimes they didn't commit. The whole thing was surreal."
Soon afterward, Mbakwe called Minnesota coach Tubby Smith.
"I was at the Final Four [in Detroit] and I got the call," Smith said. "I told him he needs to get a lawyer. He was worried about his safety. I told him you need to look out for yourself."
Mbakwe said he went back home to St. Paul, Minn., and then had to return to Miami to turn himself in. He was released and then made another appearance in Miami to meet with his attorney.
