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Iowa St.’s Palo pleads not guilty to abuse charge

Sports

September 19th, 2012 by Ric Hanson

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Suspended Iowa State basketball player Bubu Palo has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual abuse. Palo was suspended Sept. 7 after being charged with sexually abusing a woman he was driving home earlier this year. Online court records say Palo’s attorney, Matthew Boles, filed a written plea of not guilty on Tuesday. Palo and another man, 21-year-old Spencer Cruise, of Ames, were charged with second-degree sexual abuse. The criminal complaint says the men offered to give a woman a ride home on May 18, but instead drove her to a home owned by Cruise’s family and “committed a sex act by force against the victim’s will.” Online records show that Cruise hasn’t entered a plea. Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg has suspended Palo, a reserve guard.