Duke Lacrosse Accuser Made Previous Report

AP ^ | Apr 27 2006 | AARON BEARD

[Conservative Coulter Fan]

The woman who says she was raped by three members of Duke's lacrosse team also told police 10 years ago she was raped by three men, filing a 1996 complaint claiming she had been assaulted three years earlier when she was 14.

Authorities in nearby Creedmoor said Thursday that none of the men named in the decade-old report was ever charged but they didn't have details why.

A phone number for the accuser has been disconnected and her family declined to comment to The Associated Press. But relatives told Essence magazine in an online story this week that the woman declined to pursue the case out of fear for her safety.

The existence of the report surprised defense attorneys, one of whom has sought information about the accuser's past for use in attacking her credibility.

"That's the very first I've heard of that," said Bill Cotter, the attorney for indicted lacrosse player Collin Finnerty, who along with fellow Duke sophomore Reade Seligmann is charged with first-degree rape, kidnapping and sexual assault. He declined additional comment.

Attorneys for Seligmann asked the court this week to order the state to turn over the accuser's medical, legal and education records, and hold a pretrial hearing to "determine if the complaining witness is even credible enough to provide reliable testimony."

The accuser, a 27-year-old student at North Carolina Central University in Durham, told police she was hired to perform as a stripper at a March 13 party, where she was raped by three men.

According to the Creedmoor police report in August 1996, when the woman was 18, she told officers she was raped and beaten by three men "for a continual time" in 1993, when she was 14. She told police she was attacked at an "unspecified location" on a street in Creedmoor, a town 15 miles northeast of Durham.

The report lists the names of the three men, but no other details. Creedmoor police Chief Ted Pollard said Thursday he had no recollection of the report, and his staff has been unable to find any additional information about it.

Durham police Officer Brian Bishop, who interviewed the accuser in 1996 while working on the Creedmoor force, said Thursday he had a vague recollection of the report but couldn't remember any details.

When asked about the accuser's previous report of rape, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong declined to comment.

Before Seligmann and Finnerty were indicted, attorneys for the players pointed to the accuser's criminal history when answering questions about their clients' legal troubles. The woman pleaded guilty to several misdemeanors in 2002.

[Neverforget01]

CrimeStats

One rape reported in 1996

A rape allegation is so huge for a little town. I find it hard to believe he doesn't recall it.

[Carolinamom]

I don't really know....he's been very supportive of anything she's said and seems to have feeling for her. I can't see a former husband driving her to an appointment to 'dance', but this kind of behavior is so foreign to me that it's hard to say.

[maggief]

Hey, they raised $430 and a few love letters. ;)


Warning: Language content

http://groups.google.com/group/durhamsustains/browse_frm/thread/de91c9f59c440864/8f690931c488b241#8f690931c488b241

http://groups.google.com/group/durhamsustains?lnk=lr

[I want to know]

Brian Bishop was the investigating officer during the 1996 allegation and now works for the Durham Police Department. What does he remember about the 1996 event and was this ever made known to the current investigation concerning the Duke rape allegation?

[GAgal]

I think JJ's offer to pay her tuition, even if she is found to have lied, offended hard-working, clothes-wearing AA single mothers similarly struggling to better themselves.

[maggief]

Wasn't O'Neill who suggest she dance to pay bills a few years ago but she wasn't comfortable with it?

[maggief]

Make that McNeill.


sorry

[Sacajaweau]

Sounds like EXACTLY what happened on Morey's last night. She had told her fiance that she had been raped after she came home with her hair messed up, etc.... (She was toooo ashamed to go to the police.

Now she wanted him to know the truth...before they got married....that she really had cheated on him and the 3 year old son might not be his.

The son turned out to be his from DNA test. They were both sooooo happy.

[Sacajaweau]

I'm sure the cops have run into this chick on a regular basis. Our local cops know who all the girls are. They don't worry about it a lot. Drugs and shootings are a bigger problem.

[Carolinamom]

I read that it was she who suggested it as a way to pay the bills. Than she joined the navy instead, and he said it was a way for him to travel w/her around the country.

[Neverforget01]

Brian Bishop was the investigating officer during the 1996 allegation and now works for the Durham Police Department. What does he remember about the 1996 event and was this ever made known to the current investigation concerning the Duke rape allegation?

Good question

I come from a small town of 5000. A rape by three individuals would be the biggest news to ever hit the town. Creedmore had 2000.

[I want to know]

I don't know. Some people will support her even if she lied.

http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/433646.html

The dancer, 27, is the mother of two children and an honor student and N.C. Central University, where she studies psychology. When told of the 1996 complaint Thursday, some NCCU students said they will continue to stand by their classmate.

"Rape is wrong, sexism is wrong and classism is wrong," said Khari Jackson, an NCCU senior from Winston-Salem. "If it turns out [that the allegations are] not true, I'll still support her because of the deeper issues that's surrounding this case."

What???

[snarkytart]

Maggie,

I know there was a photo of a watch released, but I am pretty sure Dan said there is another where you can see the face clearly. Unless this one is blurred on purpose by the defense for some reason, because there is noway Dan could be talking about this photo, you cannot see anything.

[Carolinamom]

Race trumps truth. Scary.

[maggief]

You are correct...

http://www.newsobserver.com/215/story/429338.html

The former husband said that when they were married, they fell behind on bills. His former wife, he said, suggested she take a job dancing; she would be nearly nude but would make some quick money. She visited a club but decided she wasn't ready for that kind of work, he said.

He said he worked during the marriage, but not steadily. "I couldn't fault a woman for taking care of her family and trying to pay the bills," he said.

[buoybob]

I just wonder if these three men were innocent.....and once again it's 3.....3 is the magic number...what are the chances of that happening to you twice!

Practice makes perfect.

[snarkytart]

Good question

I come from a small town of 5000. A rape by three individuals would be the biggest news to ever hit the town. Creedmore had 2000.
_____________

I can give him the benefit of the doubt, because the case was not pursued, therefore, it was a person filing a complaint and that's it.
I am sure if there had been an investigation and charges brought the officer might remember it more clearly.

[maggief]

That's the picture that was released.

Here are all the images:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1617550/posts?page=1013#1013

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1617550/posts?page=1015#1015

[Carolinamom]

Why wasn't it the husband who joined the navy? As for that club she "visited", was that the one where she tried out by giving the cab driver a lap dance?

[GAgal]

I think Rita Cosby snagged the first interview with McNeill. The video is the last of the videos here:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8828200/

He said: * He and the accuser were married 4 yrs, and divorced around 5 yrs. ago. * He ran into her at Walmart after the incident, spoke with her a few moments, and thought she looked "spaced out". * He told Rita he was just now finding out about her claims. * He made no comment to Rita's mention that at one time he and the accuser had restraining orders out on each other.