Three former Eastern students on athletic teams charged with criminal sexual assault in May are awaiting trial, and if found guilty, could face up to 15 years in prison.

Condric A. Sanders, Louis A. Taylor and Antwan G. Oliver were all indicted for criminal sexual assault May 24, said Assistant State’s Attorney Duane Deters, who is prosecuting the case.

All three men have posted bond since the grand jury handed down the indictments.

Sanders, 34, who goes to trial Sept. 10, is accused of having sexual intercourse with a woman by using force when she was not able to consent. Deters said the incident occurred in the early morning hours of Feb. 17 in his Stevenson Hall room. The victim was asleep at the time and had not been drinking.

Last school year was Sanders’ first year at Eastern and held a junior status. Sanders is no longer attending Eastern and currently resides in Chicago, Deters said.

Taylor, 23, is set to have a status hearing at 9 a.m Sept. 16. The status hearing is a common pretrial hearing to see if an agreement can be reached before going to trial. Taylor is accused of having sexual intercourse with a woman at an off-campus party who he knew was unable to consent because of alcohol intoxication April 7. Deters said he is unsure if Taylor is currently enrolled at Eastern.

Oliver, 21, awaits trail on Dec. 3 and is accused of engaging in sexual intercourse off campus with a woman using force Jan. 21. Taylor did not enroll at Eastern this fall and is currently living in Florida, Deters said.

All three men were enrolled as undergraduate students last year and though the men do not know each other, Deters said it is strange they were all involved in athletics at Eastern.

“It’s kind of weird, they’re all sports-related,” he said. “One of those unique things.”

According to Deters, Sanders was the manager of the men’s basketball team, Taylor was on the wrestling team and Oliver was a starter on the football team last fall.

“Unfortunately we’ll probably have three trials,” he said.

For each trial, Deters said, it should not take more than two days to litigate each case. If convicted, the men will serve time. They can be sentenced to four to 15 years in a state prison and probation is not an alternative, Deters said.

In addition, if convicted, all three men must register as a sex offender, which will remain on their record for the rest of their life. If they do not, it will result in another felony.

Each of the three victims will testify, and for the Sanders case that begins Sept. 10, Deters said there are six witnesses scheduled to testify. One of the three victims does not attend Eastern anymore, but Deters was unsure of the rest.

“It takes courage to come forward with this kind of thing,” he said. “You’re put under the microscope and everything you do is called under question, a lot of victim blaming going on by your peer group.

“You’re telling 12 people you don’t know and you’ve never seen very intimate details about their life. I respect any person that can and does.”