Charges dropped against second rape defendant

Associated Press

Associated Press

A prosecutor said Wednesday he has dropped charges against former South Dakota State University men’s basketball player Mohamed Berte now that another former player has been acquitted.

Charges of aiding and abetting second-degree rape, sexual contact and first-degree burglary have been dismissed against Berte, 23, of the Ivory Coast, said Clyde Calhoon, Brookings County state’s attorney.

Berte had been accused of assisting Andre Gilbert, 20, of Brooklyn Park, Minn., in the rape of a female SDSU student last Dec. 15 in her dorm room.

Gilbert was found not guilty of all charges last week.

“The ends of justice do not warrant further prosecution of this defendant and that it would be in the best interest of all parties that the matter be concluded,” Calhoon said.

Berte and Gilbert were starters on the basketball squad before being suspended from the team in February.

Berte had been scheduled to stand trial in January.