Report: DA says Franklin's contact with alleged victim not suspicious

Published May. 1, 2014 10:04 a.m. ET

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Former Vanderbilt football coach James Franklin did talk to an alleged rape victim in the days after she reported the incident, the deputy district attorney in the case reportedly confirms. He adds that Franklin was offering support to the woman in a case in which four now-former Vanderbilt football players were charged last year.

According to the Philadelphia Enquirer, Tom Thurman said Wednesday that Franklin did have contact with the woman.

On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that attorneys for Brandon Vandenburg, who has been charged with raping the woman in a campus dorm last June, claimed in paperwork filed in Nashville that evidence was missing, including text messages, phone records and call logs from Franklin. According to the story, the attorneys “say the alleged victim told detectives that Franklin and a former Vanderbilt strength training coach contacted her during her medical exam days after the alleged assault, telling her ‘they cared about her because she assisted them with recruiting.’''

Franklin, who took over at Penn State in January, issued a statement emailed to the AP: ''The allegations that I did something wrong are simply not true. I have cooperated fully with the authorities in this matter but, out of respect for the legal process, I am not able to comment any further.''

Now, Thurman says the call Franklin made was to offer support.

"I think he and his wife called and said they were praying for her and thinking about her. It was probably a pretty nice thing to do," Thurman told the Enquirer, "and it gets thrown up like this."

He later added that, "obviously, it wasn't for any purpose of covering up or anything like that. It was showing support, which was a nice thing to do. That's the only contact I know about."

He said that he thought Franklin had previously known the woman.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.