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Ex-girlfriend of Deondre Francois says Instagram account was hacked, stands by her claims

College Football, Florida State Seminoles

The ex-girlfriend of Deondre Francois said she never wrote the statement on her Instagram account that appeared to show her recanting claims of having been physically abused by the former Florida State quarterback.

Diamond Lindsey told ESPN on Tuesday that someone hacked into her Instagram account and posted the statement without her knowledge, and she said she has since been locked out of her account.

"I was shocked. Who is it? Why? That's not me," she said of her reaction after seeing the post. "Why would I say something and then turn around and say, 'Oh this never happened?' There is clearly a video out."

On Sunday, Seminoles coach Willie Taggart announced that Francois had been dismissed from the team. The decision was announced the day after Lindsey posted a video to Instagram alleging abuse by Francois. The video doesn't show either person, but has audio of an argument between a man and a woman that suggests the man has hit her in the face. The post included a comment from Lindsey accusing Francois of repeated, ongoing physical abuse.

Lindsey said Tuesday that the video was of an altercation last month and that she did not report the incident to police or school officials at the time or since. She said she posted it on Instagram because she just wanted to share her story and perhaps help other women, and she said she did not want to get Francois in any trouble.

After people started to send her threatening messages via Instagram, she said she removed the post and made her account private. On Monday, a screengrab of a post made from her Instagram account was making its way around social media, showing what appeared to be a statement from Lindsey recanting her earlier claims, apologizing for posting the video, and stating that Francois "has never struck me with his hand or fist." As soon as a relative sent her an image of the post Monday, Lindsey said that she tried to log into her Instagram account, but her password didn't work. She said she reached out to Instagram to regain access to her page, which as of Sunday had more than 40,000 followers.

On Tuesday, she said she was waiting for that request to be processed.

Francois was involved in a domestic dispute with his pregnant girlfriend in January 2018, but no arrests were made and no charges were filed. Tallahassee Police said Francois and a woman they did not identify gave varying accounts of the incident to officers, who said they could not establish probable cause for charges.

According to an incident report, Francois called police and told them his ex-girlfriend "was in his home, breaking things and tearing up his room." The woman told police Francois broke down the bedroom door, picked her up, threw her onto the ground and cut her forearm. The state attorney also declined to file charges.

A Tallahassee Police spokesman told ESPN on Monday that police were not made aware of any videos of the January 2018 incident.

In April 2018, Francois was cited for misdemeanor possession of marijuana after police raided his apartment.

Francois was slated to be a redshirt senior at Florida State this season before being dismissed. He has entered his name in the NCAA transfer portal, his uncle told The Associated Press. The QB played in 25 games in three seasons with the Seminoles.

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