YSU Releases Sexual Assault Record

YOUNGSTOWN (News Talk 1480 WHBC) – Youngstown State University has released a sexual assault record that gives further details on a case involving three former student athletes, one of whom was later hired to coach woman’s tennis.

They held onto the police incident report until last week when they realized they were violating state public records laws. The report was released three weeks after the USA TODAY Network published its investigation into the case and four months after it first requested it.

The document shows that Basseem El Mekawi along with two other men, Sidney Sandidge and Sidney Umude who were on the football and basketball teams, allegedly locked a female student in an apartment bedroom on campus and sexually assaulted her back in 2015.

The female victim also reported an incident two weeks earlier involving just Umude.

All three men were punished by the school. El Mekawi and Sandidge, were allowed to return to YSU and continue their academic and athletic careers after completing their sanctions.

In the fall 2018 El Mekawi was hired to work with the men’s tennis team. He then worked as a coach for the the woman’s tennis team last spring.

El Mekawi is no longer with the University. YSU has deleted any mention of him from the team’s websites.