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Report: Bills’ IK Enemkpali involved in 2011 catfishing incident

Buffalo Bills linebacker IK Enemkpali was reportedly involved in a 2011 catfishing incident in which he punched a man he thought was a woman he had arranged to have sex with.
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Buffalo Bills linebacker IK Enemkpali was involved in a 2011 catfishing incident in which he punched a man he thought was a woman he had arranged to have sex with, reports ESPN’s Paula Lavigne.

Enemkpali, playing college football for Louisiana Tech at the time, injured his hand from the punch and needed surgery. He missed Louisiana Tech’s first game that season because of the surgery. Enemkpali was previously suspended for striking an off-duty sheriff’s officer five months earlier; he was charged with battery on an officer and disturbing the peace.

Enemkpali, who was released by the New York Jets earlier this month after he punched quarterback Geno Smith and fractured Smith’s Jaw, was claimed off waivers by the Bills the following day, on Aug. 12.

Enemkpali reported the 2011 catfishing incident to police three days after it happened. From ESPN.com:

According to the police report, on Sept. 1, 2011, Enemkpali began exchanging messages with a new Facebook friend named “Missy Lee,” who offered to perform oral sex on Enemkpali if he would come over to her house. He told police that after he entered the house through a side door, he saw a figure inside “covered head-to-toe in a blanket,” and the person would not remove the blanket. “Enemkpali stated that he felt uneasy about the situation, so he left,” the report states.

But Enemkpali returned to the house after “Missy Lee” called him and convinced him to come back. When he arrived, the person wearing the blanket still refused to remove it and also refused to turn on the lights. When a cellphone in the room rang, “the screen lit up the room enough to see that the person under the blanket had facial hair,” the report states. Enemkpali said another person had also entered the room.

“Enemkpali stated that he felt that he was being ‘set up’ for a robbery of some type,” the police report states. “Enemkpali stated that fearing for his safety, he then struck the subject in the blanket. Enemkpali stated that after he struck this person, their voice changed to that of a male. Enemkpali stated that he then left the residence through the window.”

Enemkpali told police that “Missy Lee” later sent him threatening text messages accusing him of punching her and knocking out her teeth. After he offered to pay her $500, “Missy Lee” said she would call the police unless Enemkpali paid her $1,000. Enemkpali was not charged in the incident.

ESPN’s report said the incident caused at least one AFC team to take him off its draft board in 2014. Multiple other teams were also “dissuaded” from drafting Enemkpali because of the incident.

NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday the “the matter remains under review.” The Bills did not immediately respond to ESPN’s request for a comment and Enemkpali’s agent declined to comment.

Mike Fiammetta