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.
News & Observer polishing the halo on the accuser who is now a SCHOLARSHIP college student and working mother of two:
http://www.newsobserver.com/145/story/430961.html
Accuser and her family value support
(snip)
Civil rights activist Jesse Jackson called the accuser's parents Wednesday and Thursday, the mother said, but she doesn't know whether her daughter will need to accept his offer of a college scholarship because her daughter recently learned she earned one by compiling a 3.0 grade-point average.
Susan L. Taylor, the editorial director of Essence Magazine, said during a Raleigh professional women's forum Thursday that she had spoken with the accuser's mother as well.
The accuser's cousin said the accuser has moved from her home and is staying at a different location every night.
She said her cousin considered not pursuing the case. "She was at the point where she felt like she just wanted to make it go away," she said. "But she just realized, once she had a minute to get herself together, that she has to do this. She doesn't want to be a victim any longer."
/end excerpt
Why in the world would you post that name, address and telephone number?
article says her last name is Roberts, not Rogers
The treated Crystal (accuser) like a cross between Rosa
Parks and Mother Teresa. Now, they're going to minimize
this Stripper-Convict's life where she is a
pioneering hero herself.
There's no honor among thieves! - that's the best way
to sum up these scamming CON-victs!
Does anyone believe the N&O didn't know the accuser's
Military discharge indicated Bad Conduct? Of course
they did. But, they portrayed her as a Patriot! .
I have asked to have it removed....VERY sorry about it all. My apologies.
hell, we all make mistakes.. It is 5:30 AM!
No excuses for my bad judgment and error, but I have been up since 3am...you'd think that by now, I'd be awake and alert, but I need more than 1 cup of coffee this morning.
That's her !
I can't believe this. She steals 25,000 and she gets COMMUNITY SERVICE ! I MUST be reading that wrong.
I wonder how many other charges were thrown out (she is 31).
Who cares if they stole $400. Robbery, even rape doesn't stack up against name calling. (This applies even if one of the callees is passed out drunk.) This logic brought to you courtesy the MSM and PC.
That was my thought. When they were bring him in under arrest, he was much taller then anyone around him.
And the registered owners of Allure will be called to the stand. They will not be happy to have to answer lots of questions about their firm. They probably have gone to the expense by now of changing the company name and getting a new phone number
If the DA cared to look, I betcha Kim has pulled her scam before.
You couldn't send Hannibal Lecter to jail on the word of these 2 women. How in the world did the DA think he could use these 2 Charged FELONS to send kids with open container violations to Jail for 16-20 years?
When this filters down to the Real Legal Community, there's going to be outrage. Look to see some Prosecutors publicly criticizing Nifong.
I want to hear Judge Napolitanio (Fox) when the news reaches him. He said this case was DEAD and OVER - and the DA would walk away when the DNA results were released.
.
If they didn't shut down alltogether!
Allure was doing some risque' stuff.
Almost 32 -- She's getting up there in years as a stripper, having to compete with the 18-20 year olds.
A cab driver came forward and said he picked up the other arrested man, Seligman, (sp.?) in front of the house and they left at the same time any attack/rape would have taken place. The alibi's corroborated by the cabbie's meter, plus the cabbie says he saw an angry looking black woman standing on the sidewalk. Seligman's attorney won't take the DA's plea deal since he has proof of his innocence.
Yeah, there's the "little" Giant. Maybe that should've given the DA and investigators PAUSE when she said I'll never forget the little one.
I'd like to see the "little" guy standing next to Nancy Grace.
You said,
"Almost 32 -- She's getting up there in years as a stripper, having to compete with the 18-20 year olds."
.. I'm sure that $800.00 went right into her retirment account!
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