Chicago Blackhawks prospect and Rockford IceHogs forward Garret Ross will face charges of the “non-consensual dissemination of sexual images,” colloquially termed “revenge porn.” The offense is a Class 4 Felony in Illinois and carries steep penalties.
The charges against Ross stem from an incident on August 31, 2015, according to court documents shared by Nick Burzych of SportsTownChicago.com. Yet, the incident has only recently come to light.
With that knowledge, the Chicago Blackhawks announced Wednesday that they are suspending Ross indefinitely. Here’s the team’s statement on the matter:
On Saturday afternoon, March 19, 2016, the Chicago Blackhawks and Rockford IceHogs learned of a legal proceeding against IceHogs player Garret Ross. At that time, we excused Garret from team activities pending our preliminary review of the matter. After further review, we have determined to suspend Garret indefinitely pending the outcome of the legal process. Because this is a pending legal proceeding, we will have no further comment at this time.
Details on the charges and situation can be found here.
It had been suggested that it would be difficult for the Blackhawks to have only just discovered the charges, as the incident took place over six months ago and there was an original court date scheduled for February 19 that was rescheduled, according to the documents shared by Burzych. Additionally, Burzych reports that Ross wasn’t the only IceHog involved in the original complaint.
However, the team’s statement addresses those suggestions, saying they discovered the charges March 19.
