Victim in Winston Case Feared Retaliation after Advice from Cops

Yet another wrinkle in the Jameis Winston case has been revealed by the Tampa Bay Times.

According to their report, the victim in the Winston cause was afraid to come forward because of a fear of a backlash from Florida State fans.

A Tallahassee police detective, Scott Angulo told the woman's lawyer that Tallahassee is a "big football town" and her client's life could "be made miserable" if she pursued a sexual assault case against Winston.

That explains why she didn't want to pursue charges from the beginning, and even her family said they were afraid that she would be a target on campus if this came out.

The family of the woman was said to be surprised that Tim Jensen, who is Winston's attorney, was told that the case was closed in February without the Tallahassee Police Department doing any investigation on the case which looks suspicious. 

Here, according to the newspaper, are just a few other items that the woman's attorney asked:

• Why was Winston not listed as the suspect in the police report when he was identified in early January?
• Why did it take Detective Angulo four months to verbally inform the family of the bloodwork results?
• Why didn't Detective Angulo or his superiors inform the State Attorney of the crime before the media sought a copy of the police report 11 months after the crime?

OK, maybe Angulo was understating just how much of a football town Tallahassee was. Perhaps he should have said the local cops were front and center with that attitude, so much so that the urge to dodge a scandal involving a Seminole player was irresistable.

I remember, when this story broke, the reaction -- especially from some of my male colleagues on Twitter -- was surprising. Most thought this was a false story put out by TMZ.com to garner hits on their site. As if they needed any more.

But I remember cautioning them to be careful, to wait until we receive all the information on this case.

As it stands right now, slowly but surely, as we peel the layers back on this story, the more it starts to smell.