Posted on 04/21/2006 12:56:01 AM PDT by OakOak
Edited on 04/21/2006 2:52:00 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
At first, a stripper who performed at a Duke University lacrosse team party doubted the story of a colleague who told police she was dragged into a bathroom and raped.
Now, Kim Roberts isn't so sure.
"I was not in the bathroom when it happened, so I can't say a rape occurred - and I never will," Roberts told The Associated Press Thursday in her first on-the-record interview. But after watching defense attorneys release photos of the accuser, and upset by the leaking of both dancers' criminal pasts, she said she has to "wonder about their character."
"In all honesty, I think they're guilty," she said. "And I can't say which ones are guilty ... but somebody did something besides underage drinking. That's my honest-to-God impression."
Attorneys for the 46 players have aggressively proclaimed the players' innocence, citing DNA tests during a public campaign that has included describing and releasing photos from the party.
Those photos, the defense maintains, show the accuser was both injured and impaired when she arrived, and also support the claim that one of the two players who has been indicted would not have had enough time to participate in any assault before he left the party. The district attorney has said he also hopes to charge a third suspect in the case.
The attorneys claim Roberts at first told a member of the defense team that she did not believe the accuser's allegations. They say she has changed her story to gain favorable treatment in a criminal case against her. They note she also e-mailed a New York public relations firm, asking in her letter for advice on "how to spin this to my advantage."
"We believe ... her story has been motivated by her own self-interest," said attorney Bill Thomas, who represents one of the uncharged players. "I think that a jury will ultimately have to decide the question of her credibility."
Roberts, 31, was arrested on March 22 - eight days after the party - on a probation violation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company in Durham where she was a payroll specialist, according to documents obtained by the AP.
On Monday, the same day a grand jury indicted lacrosse players Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, a judge agreed to a change so that Roberts would no longer have to pay a 15 percent fee to a bonding agent. District Attorney Mike Nifong signed a document saying he would not oppose the change.
"It seems she is receiving very favorable financial treatment for what she is now saying," Thomas said.
Mark Simeon, Roberts' attorney, said the bond conditions were changed because Roberts is not considered a flight risk. Nifong, who hasn't spoken with reporters about the case in weeks, didn't return a call seeking comment.
Roberts' testimony could be vital during any trial of the two sophomores, indicted on charges of first-degree rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.
Other than lacrosse players and the accuser, a 27-year-old student at a nearby university, Roberts is believed to be the only other person at the March 13 party.
Roberts said Thursday she does not remember Seligmann's face, but said she recalls seeing Finnerty - whom she described as the "little skinny one."
"I was looking him right in the eyes," she said.
Although she would not talk extensively about the party, she confirmed some of what the other dancer told police - including that the women initially left the party after one of the players threatened to sodomize the women with a broomstick.
The players' attorneys have said their clients were angry and demanded a refund when the women stopped dancing, but Roberts disputed that.
"They ripped themselves off when they started hollering about a broomstick," she said.
The accuser told police that the women were coaxed back into the house with an apology, at which point they were separated. That's when she said she was dragged into a bathroom and raped, beaten and choked for a half hour.
Later, police received a 911 call from a woman complaining that she had been called racial slurs by white men gathered outside the home where the party took place. The defense has said it believes the second dancer at the party made that call.
Roberts then drove the accuser - whom she reportedly had just met that night - to a grocery store and asked a security guard to call 911. The accuser was described later by a police officer as "just passed-out drunk."
The defense timeline is backed up by a cab driver who said Seligmann called for a ride at 12:14 a.m., and was picked up five minutes later. The defense argues that if the dancers were performing around midnight, Seligmann would not have had enough time to participate in the 30-minute assault described by the accuser.
The cabbie, Moez Mostafa, also said he saw a woman leaving the party in anger, and overheard someone say, "She just a stripper. She's going to call the police."
"She looked, like, mad," he said of the woman. "In her face, the way she walked, the way she talked, she looked like mad."
On Thursday, authorities released warrants detailing their search earlier this week of Finnerty's dorm room. Seized during the search were a newspaper article and an envelope addressed to Finnerty.
Also Thursday, 5W Public Relations, a New York firm that specializes in "crisis communication," distributed an e-mail signed "The 2nd Dancer," and Roberts confirmed she sent it after learning the AP knew her identity.
"I've found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country," she wrote. "I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it and was wondering if you had any advice as to how to spin this to my advantage."
Ronn Torossian, 5W's president, said he replied, but got no response.
"If this person is indeed who they say they are, I would be happy to speak with her," said Torossian, whose firm has represented the likes of Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ice Cube and Lil' Kim.
Roberts, like the accuser a divorced single mother who is black, took umbrage at the notion that she should not try to make something out of her experience. She's worried that once her name and criminal record are public, no one will want to hire her.
"Why shouldn't I profit from it?" she asked. "I didn't ask to be in this position ... I would like to feed my daughter."
Roberts is bracing for an all-out attack, but said she's almost past caring.
"Don't forget that they called me a damn n####," she said. "She (the accuser) was passed out in the car. She doesn't know what she was called. I was called that. I can never forget that."
Roberts, 31, was arrested on March 22 - eight days after the party - on a probation violation from a 2001 conviction for embezzling $25,000 from a photofinishing company in Durham where she was a payroll specialist, according to documents obtained by the AP.
LOL -- I am surprised there's a market for press on nails!
Well, yes you did!!
I don't have a link....I'm not sure there is one. Who interviewed the lovely and gracious Kim?
Local Raleigh MSNBC reporting another complexity, in Nifong's Photo ID scam.
There were two guys at the party who were not Duke lacrosse players. Nifong did not include their pictures to the AV, nor take DNA samples from the two. He must be insane.
Needless to say Defense is pi**ed, claiming (another) means to target their clients.
Nifong get cut from a high school lacrosse team, or something?
Oh my....rode hard and put up wet.
She looks like a hard hearted woman!
Dunno, but Howlin will know.
Interesting... Nifong has issues with athletes. A definite possibility.
Yep, she is pretty ragged looking. If the "other one" looks anything like the 2nd striper, I'm not surprised the players asked for their money back. LOL
Except for the kids, I thought she was a cross dresser at first glance. Kim is pudgy, but Crystal is built like a good size man, or an Olympic athelete. Where are their kids, anyway?
I think her discharge stemmed from sexual misconduct, IIRC.
I've been wondering if he might not have some grudge against Duke athletes or Duke students in general. Is he from that area ? Maybe he lost out to a Dukie at some point, either on the athletic field or some girl he has his eye on preferred a Duke student to him.
I think he is a deadly combination of:
1. Complete and total imcompetence. A 'Gov't employee' because he could'nt survive in a real job.
2. Threw all caution to the wind in order to win the election.
3. A evil bastard who would knowingly throw these kids under the bus for his own agenda.
Didn't I read somewhere that Kim had a modeling business? One employee? What, pray tell, would she model...black leather w/whip accessories?
United we stand, divided we fall. Men vs women, race vs race, political parties vs each other. Hillary is supposed to attend a fundraiser in the Los Angeles area, where anti-war activists will "picket" her. Isn't that precious. Moderate Hillary, pass the barf bags.
I forget the exact name of the business(or the front), but there is mention of one on her myspace profile, if I'm not mistaken.
That would be a lot of black leather. Quick, call PETA!(I'm having too much fun with these clowns)
No problem. Like I said, we don't always agree, but I give you props for managing the realtime investigatory threads.
Though now that I've read further I regret giving any benefit of the doubt to your tweaker at all. You get enough crap fromthe usual suspects as it is.
Today on Catherine Crier, Freda Black said police sources have told her that Nifong, not the police, has been running the investigation. He has been telling them what to do. The link below says two investigators asked Nifong if they should include pictures unrelated to the team members in the process, and Nifong said no.
http://www.wral.com/news/8882430/detail.html
Now THAT is a mean looking lady. It's too bad, because she was probably attractive at one point in time. Pretty sad what the "life" will do to a woman.
Oh well, she made her bed, now she lies down in it.
Posted by: Erika Brason, Reporter
Updated: 4/21/2006 5:23:18 PM
Nick O'Hara was as the height of his lacrosse career when the rape scandal unfolded on the North Carolina campus last month. As a junior defenseman, O'Hara was at the top of his game, and was even being considered for Lacrosse's version of the Heisman trophy.
However, all of that changed when rape accusations surfaced against his fellow team members after an off-campus party. The so-called scandal caused the team's season to be cancelled.
While O'Hara was at the party, he was not charged in any way relating to the alleged attack of an exotic dancer. He maintains that his teammates would never allow anything like that to happen. He adds...players are in a state of shock.
O'Hara would not comment on specifics of what happened at the party. However, the case, which has racial overtones is moving forward with the possible arrest of a third player. So far, DNA evidence has not linked any of the players to the alleged rape.
O'Hara's dreams for a promising season are now gone. He plans to remain at Duke next year even if the lacrosse program is not resumed. O'Hara plans to return to Buffalo for the summer after finishing his final exams.
"To me he said, yes, I mean, it was hectic and it was pretty crazy there for awhile, but again, it's just puzzling how anyone could have arrived at the rape charge," Vince said. When asked specifically if there was an exchange of words at the party his brother attended, Vince said, "That's my sense of it, that perhaps things from a verbal perspective got out of hand, but I don't think anybody in a million years would have thought that it would come to this."
Lol, so am I! Last time I bought a set was for Halloween. You can get decent acrylic nails(if you can stand the nuisance), and they don't charge a lot. God, is Crystal really a man after all???
Nahhh, couldn't be...
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