Pitcher Clay Conaway charged with rape now expelled, facing a half-dozen more rape charges dating back to 2013.
On August 22, 2018, Clay Conaway, a 22-year-old University of Delaware relief pitcher, was charged with rape for an incident that happened in June 2018.
On Tuesday, September 18, 2018, the University of Delaware’s Office of Student Conduct notified Conaway he’d been found in violation of the school’s Sexual Misconduct Policy for an incident reported in June 2018, and he was expelled.
These incidents were not the same.
As background, Conaway played ball for three seasons at Sussex Central, and a year at DeMatha Catholic in Maryland, before joining the University of Maine prior to coming home to UD, where he would make 22 appearances for the Blue Hens in 2017. He was named a Maine Scholar-Athlete Rising Star and was following in his father’s footsteps when he returned to the University of Delaware, his dad being a pitcher for the school as well.
In present day, a 22-year-old victim alleged she was sexually assaulted by Conaway in November 2017, and she reported the incident to UD on June 10, 2018. Conaway would have been made aware around June 14, 2018, that allegations against him of sexual violence were being investigated by the University of Delaware.
Six days later, on June 20, 2018, with the knowledge he was being investigated by the University of Delaware, Conaway is alleged to have raped a 20-year-old woman in Georgetown, the incident which would lead to his arrest by Delaware State Police and the charges publicly being brought against him.
The 22-year-old UD student who reported the earlier incident from November came forward to WDEL to reveal Conaway had been expelled from the university on September 18 due to his actions–confirmed by official documentation from the school notifying Conaway of his expulsion–as well as the fact that he’d been permanently banned from entering any grounds or facilities owned or maintained by the university.
The victim’s decision to report his behavior led to Conaway being found responsible for sexual assault and dating violence. Per the letter from the university:
“The Sanctioning Panel determined that behaviors exhibited by the [Conaway], including choking, threats, intimidation, violent acts, force, and control of the victim posed serious risks to the Complainant and jeopardized her safety.”
Because of the university victim’s claims and the paperwork showing he’d been found guilty and expelled by the university, there was a question about whether there was an update to the most recent case which had resulted in Conaway’s initial arrest.
What was discovered in court documents was an alleged pattern of behavior, the repercussions of which could now come flooding all at once. Since Conaway’s arrest, court documents showed outstanding and pending charges against him now include:
second-degree rape, September 2013
second-degree rape, December 2013
second-degree rape, August 2017
second-degree rape, May 2018
two counts second-degree rape, July 2018
Those backlogged, pending charges would now be attributed to the Delaware State Police, so the originating locations of those incidents remained unknown. Because of a University of Delaware student’s refusal to remain in the shadows, a half-dozen new charges were brought to light, and a single incident was revealed to be part of a greater story dating back to an alleged suspect’s youth, as Conaway would have been, at oldest, 17 for the earliest of charges.
The University of Delaware has not responded to requests for comment regarding this case or whether or not the school’s police department would pursue it’s own rape charges now that a tribunal has found Conaway in violation of its policies.
At the time of Conaway’s arrest on August 22, 2018, authorities asked anyone who may have more information about possible crimes committed by this suspect to contact authorities at 302.752.3856. That remains the case.
