The hero of Sacramento may not be a good guy after all.
A woman who accused former Suns star-turned-politician Kevin Johnson of raping her in Arizona in 1996 when she was 15 has come forward and identified herself as Mandi Koba nearly two decades later, according to Deadspin.
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Koba, who grew up without a father figure in her life, thought she found a good relationship with Johnson, but she says things quickly turned creepy with the three-time NBA All-Star. A 1996 report claimed that Koba, under the pseudonym "Kim Adams" was a victim of sexual assault by the now-Mayor of Sacramento, when he was playing as a member of the Suns.
The initial report claimed the following per Deadspin:
"In time, there would be a fair amount of public discussion of the allegations made in that report, which involved Johnson fondling the teenager, showering with her, rubbing his genitals against her bare thigh, suggesting they pray together and ask for forgiveness, and making the only child from a single-parent home give a "pinky promise" that she wouldn't tell her friends or mother what he'd done. But the investigation produced no physical evidence that any crime had been committed, no criminal charges were ever filed against Johnson, and the accuser never spoke out."
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The accuser has now spoken out at age 36, though Koba said when it first happened, "I wasn't allowed to talk about it." Johnson had always denied the allegations.
Koba, who now has three children, claims she took money from Johnson in exchange for her silence, but she is no longer holding her tongue. According to the report, Johnson gave her $230,600 in hush money.
"I've chosen to say what I want, fully aware of the consequences," she said. "I just felt like I wasn't doing anything but protecting him," Koba says of her years of silence. "Part of the way they got me to go along with the agreement was they told me it would protect me from his attorneys saying mean things about me. Well, I'm a grown-up now. They can say mean things about me if they want."
Koba added that Johnson, who was 29 at the time, was her hero and he met her family. She added that her mother said he "couldn't be my boyfriend." The contact with the two allegedly started out with massages and led to them showering together.
ESPN now has an important decision to make as its 30-for-30 on the Kings, entitled "Down in the Valley," is slated to air Oct. 20. Johnson and his efforts to keep the Kings from moving are the focal point in the documentary, but it will be interesting to see what ESPN decides to do now that this news has broken.
Johnson has had a history of controversy in office, and the past has reared its head again. Koba has filmed a public service announcement imploring victims of sexual assault to speak out, but she still feels it's easy for people to get away with the crime this day in age.
"Oh, he would totally get away with it now," she said. "He totally would."
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