Fresh off the Super Bowl, veteran Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs pleaded not guilty this morning in Dedham District Court to assault charges.
He’s accused of felony strangulation or suffocation and a lesser assault and battery charge against a live-in chef, according to the DA.
He was released on personal recognizance and is due back in court in April. The hearing was over faster than Diggs can run an out-route.
Diggs is facing criminal charges stemming from an incident on Dec. 2, a day after the Patriots improved to 10-3 following a blowout win over the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football.”
One of those documents, a police report from Dedham PD, highlights how the alleged victim – a woman, later self-described as Diggs’ “private chef” – came to the station on Dec. 16 to inform officers of the alleged Dec. 2 assault.
The victim told police that the alleged assault stemmed from an argument over pay that she said Diggs owed her. Following a text and verbal dispute, she accused Diggs of smacking her in the face, and said further that he tried to choke her “using the crook of his elbow around her neck,” according to the police report.
According to the police report, the victim alleged that under an initial agreement with Diggs, she’d be paid weekly, but that she was being paid monthly since her employment began.
In early November, Diggs allegedly told the woman that her employment was “not needed” the week of Nov. 7-14. The victim further alleges that Diggs did not pay her salary that week, which she said she was obligated to in “this type of work arrangement.”
This is a developing story …
