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.
PING !
So, the 20 aforementioned items may be true or this (1) may be true - SHE LIED.
This case was in the news.. The woman working for the photofinishing company.
Makes this look really valid too!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1618767/posts?page=8
DipThong is toast. Or at least he should be.
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.
Conviction for embezzling $25,000. Lied in the first 911 call about what she was doing and lied to the Kroger security guard about how she happened to have the accuser in the car.
What a witness.
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.
Very interesting how the AP is not saying that Kim is confirming the accuser's tale about both women being coaxed back into house with an apology, getting separated, with the accuser in the bathroom. This version is only attributed to the accuser. To the contrary, Kim won't discuss the details.
Kim's version may be that the accuser went back to get her shoe, and THAT'S when someone must have pulled her into the bathroom and raped her, if they did so, while Kim was waiting in the car.
Kim is clearly not the brightest bulb for sending that email in the way she did.
The defense needs to sit on the rest of photos and videos they have until Kim gets out on her limb with the details of what she says happens.
To me, and I said this yesterday, the 2nd Dancer was in way too much of a hurry to get out of there.
She's shown pointing at some of the players while she's dancing and they're not smiling. It seems she was smarting off right from the beginning.
She lied in the first 911 call (several times).
She lied about making that call.
She lied about driving the woman to Kroger
She lied to the Security guard and authorities about how Crystal got in her car.
She was willingly to leave an impaired woman barely dressed in a parking lot in the middle of the night.
She lied to authorities initially when asked if that was her voice in the background on the 2nd call
She has changed her story on what happened IN the house
She called the Defense lawyers "OUT and OUT Liars!"
AND NIFONG - the Genius - CUT her a sweetheart deal. What does that say about his judgement? After finding out she lied to the police and filed a false report (911 call), he goes to bat for her and treats her like a star witness.
Now, she's contacting Media firms looking for an agent !
BEAUTIFUL ! Nifong is going to look so BAD.
This is why the MEDIA wouldn't release this woman's name. I knew something was up when they sat on her name, when there was no such policy to support it.
.
One of the Defense attorneys (Thomas) I think has already said they have Kim, on record, saying an entirely different story than she is saying now.
The Defense Lawyer said - Just because she got a lawyer doesn't mean she can change her story that she is already on record with our investigator.
All sides are collaspsing on Nifong !!
Kim Roberts: stripper/dancer; embezzler; liar; probation violator....what next?
Good find, Oak.
Can you pull up info about her sentencing for that embezzlement of $25,000?
Could you explain the thread title? I can't figure out what "dancer now questions doubts about accuser" means. Thanks.
The AP (or the editor) would much rather have titled it "2d dancer now supports accuser's version" but the headline writer realized he/she just couldn't get all the way there
You know what dipthong's got...A single skin cell under her fingernail from a causual brush on the cheek. He's gotta have something, I mean he spent 7 years in college he can't be a total idiot.
Yes Sir.
They didn't want to use the title: 2nd stripper is known criminal, part of scam!
Ping!
LOL. Good one.
Unbelievable!
Seared into her memory.
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