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.
Think $800.00 was a tad high?
I do too; maybe right with yours and maybe juuuust around the edges...
OFFENDER HEIGHT (IN INCHES): 64
OFFENDER WEIGHT (IN LBS): 150
5'4" 150 Lbs? I vote worst stripper show ever.
315 posted on 04/21/2006 7:30:14 AM PDT by GallopingGhost
The Rape Jackets
The DA suggested that there was NO DNA under the fingernails because the players that attacked her had jackets or Long sleeve shirts on preventing the DNA from getting under the nails.. Well, when the Pics came in it showed the players were almost all (or maybe all) were wearing short sleeve shirts..
Susan Filan on Abrams then posited that MAYBE THE PUT JACKETS ON BEFORE THEY RAPED HER (and then took them off again, I again)..
To: Krodg
anyone seen this... might be a fake...but funny none the less http://www.gambling911.com/042006Inews.html
Duke Lacrosse Scandal: Second dancer contacts media firm
A Manhattan media firm received an unusual email Wednesday from a woman claiming to be the second dancer cited in an alleged "rape scandal" surrounding the Duke University Lacrosse team.
The following email was received by 5W Public Relations. This individual claims to be the 2nd dancer in the Duke Scandal and was sent to Sports911.com courtesy of Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations
The authenticity of this email has not yet been verified by the PR firm. At the very least there is someone out there impersonating the second dancer involved in this scandal.
From: Lesley ***[mailto:streetzles@]
Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 2:21 PM
To: Ronn Torossian
Subject: duke lacrosse scandal
Hi!
My name is Kim and I am involved in the Duke Lacrosse scandal. Although I am no celebrity and just an average citizen, I've found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country. 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. I am determined not to let any negative publicity about my life overtake me. I'm so confused as to who to talk to for relevant advice and I hope that you can return my e-mail. If you cannot help, do you know of any names and numbers I can call?
Thanks for your time,
The 2nd Dancer...
----
Sports911.com News Wire
915 posted on 04/20/2006 4:34:50 PM EDT by Classics1420
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1618249/posts?page=915#915
Slim? Slender? 5'4" and 150?
Yes, she was 25 or 26 when she DID THE CRIME but DIDN'T DO THE TIME
Thanks Krodg...I have been searching for that....thought I was going nuts...lol
Krodg,
It's been confirmed by the AP. She wrote it .. that's what they're all reporting.
I believed it was her, but Most thought "who would be so stupid?"
Kim drugged Crystal.
There's a lesson buried in this story...
"Payroll specialist" + embezzlement = "31-year old exotic dancer"
This is the LINE that's telling, but the Media is reporting the SPIN Line instead:
"I'm worried about letting this opportunity pass me by without making the best of it "
Gang Rape is an opportunity?
FOX reporting a news conference by Nifong's opponent at 11.
Put on jackets before rape? A joke, right?
I thought it was a joke...just couldn't imagine anyone being that dumb. LOL
I knew I saw it last night, but I thought it had it's own thread....it was actually buried in another......
New street slang: condoms = rape jackets
Crawdad,
I wrote the same thing or are you questioning that statement made by me?
I said the price of a pill for $800.00,,, Kim would do that all day long. And she figures no one in our business is going to go to the cops.
The neighbor's story (right after the event) has the strippers arriving together in the same car. It would've been so easy for Kim to do that.
Remember, even AFTER they IDd Kim, she lied about making either call. So she was had at the point (Warrant issue was moot), but she still lied. I think Kim took the dough and threw the shoe out the window.
Yeah, either she's a very cold hearted person, or she doesn't think anything happened.
That's what all the women talking heads are saying they might have done because there is no DNA.
And, no, they're not joking.
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