Texans minority owner Enrique Javier Loya facing rape, sexual abuse charges in Kentucky
A minority owner of the Houston Texans, Enrique Javier Loya, is facing multiple sexual abuse charges in Kentucky, according to state court records.
Loya, the co-founder, chairman and CEO of a business in Houston called OTC Holdings, is set for a pretrial conference August 22 in Jefferson County (Kentucky). He is charged with one count of first-degree rape, five counts of first-degree sexual abuse and also faces a third-degree charge of sexual abuse.
Pro Football Talk was the first to report on the matter.
The date of the incident that brought the charges is still unclear, though the warrant for Loya's arrest was issued May 10, according to the Jefferson County clerk of criminal courts.
"The club promptly notified the league of the serious pending charges against Mr. Loya after they were filed," NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy wrote in a statement to USA TODAY Sports. "Mr. Loya has not been permitted to participate in any league or club activity during this process. He is no longer on any league committees."
Loya has been a limited partner with the Texans since their expansion season in 2002. At the time, he became the first Hispanic person to hold any ownership stake in an NFL team and he had been serving on the NFL's diversity committee.
The Texans have not responded to a request for comment on the matter, though the team emailed PFT a prepared statement.
"We are aware of the serious charges filed in the Commonwealth of Kentucky against Javier Loya, one of our outside limited partners," the Texans told Pro Football Talk on Monday morning. "We have agreed with Mr. Loya that while these charges are pending, he will remove himself entirely from any team or League activities."
It is unclear if there were any mentions of Loya on the team's official website; if so, they had been scrubbed as of Monday morning.
Loya is a 1991 graduate of Columbia University, where he lettered as a defensive end and outside linebacker in three seasons with the team.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Texans minority owner Enrique Javier Loya facing sexual abuse charges
