Chris Rainey ‘No Longer With The Team,’ Released On Own Recognizance

Associated Press reporter Mark Long quotes Florida offensive coordinator Steve Addazio as saying Chris Rainey “is no longer with the team.”

That would sound like a final dismissal, except for the fact that Urban Meyer has shown mercy for firing an AK-47 in public before, and “no longer with the team” is just slippery enough to actually mean “he can work his way back into our good graces.”

The Gainesville Sun reports that Chris Rainey was released on his own recognizance on Tuesday morning after being arrested on an aggravated stalking charge. The Sun additionally reports that Rainey’s “sometime girlfriend” didn’t want him to get arrested.

The alleged victim was also in court, with her mother and sister, and told the judge she does not fear Rainey but does fear the attention the case has drawn from the media.“People all over the country have been calling my cell phone,” the woman said. “I’m not afraid of him. I’m more afraid of all the repercussions.”

She also told Ferrero that she had not intended for Rainey to be arrested.

It’s anyone’s guess how the victim’s phone came to be bombarded, but it’s likely that police had no choice to arrest Rainey, no matter what his victim wanted.

Rainey’s charge is listed on his booking page as “AGGRAV STALKING: FOLLOW HARASS CYBERSTALK DEATH INJURY,” which is a rather frightening series of capital letters, but amounts to a violation of Florida Statute 784.048.3, which reads:

(3) Any person who willfully, maliciously, and repeatedly follows, harasses, or cyberstalks another person, and makes a credible threat with the intent to place that person in reasonable fear of death or bodily injury of the person, or the person’s child, sibling, spouse, parent, or dependent, commits the offense of aggravated stalking, a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084.Texting “time to die” would certainly qualify as a credible threat, and no amount of protestation from the victim would change the fact that a text message showing that threat is near-ironclad evidence of the offense.