Hofstra Rape: Student Lied About Incident: District Attorney

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) -- Authorities in New York say the Hofstra University student who told police that she had been gang-raped by five men on campus has recanted her story.

Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said in a statement released late Wednesday that the 18-year-old told law enforcement officials that the sex was consensual.

Rice says Nassau County Judge Robert Bruno then dismissed the charges against four of the men and ordered their release.

The woman had accused the men, including a Hofstra student, of taking her cell phone at an on-campus nightclub and luring her into a dormitory men's room and sexually assaulting her early Sunday.

Four of them, Rondell Bedward, Jesus Ortiz, Kevin Taveras and Stalin Felipe, were arrested and arraigned on rape and other charges.

Comments

[Dianne Baumert-Moyik]

Check out what Joy Watson thinks of Kathleen Rice's decision..­. http://www.prlog.org/10354928-joy-watson-candidate-for-nassau-county-da-on-failure-of-kathleen-rice-to-charge-false-rape-accuser.html

[William Young]

She needs jail time and they need to make stiff penalties towards women that scream "rape" when in actuality it was a consensual act. This isn't a rant towards women that are actually raped, but towards the ones who like to cry wolf to hide the shame of having sex with multiple partners at one time.

[alecto perfcto]

http://www.newsday.com/long-island/nassau/da-hofstra-accuser-lied-about-rape-until-video-was-raised-1.1456015

apparently the DA said their may be a video and she admitted it.

[elskid]

With her ability to describe reality, she should work for ACORN. Now that we see how she is willing to ruin lives to save herself some embarrassment, she can probably be a Czar or Speaker of the House or even President!!!!! She certainly has the skill set!!!

[seattle music]

blah-blah-blah ACORN

blah-blah-blah birth certificate

blah-blah-blah tea bags

blah-blah-blah de.ath panels

Y...A...W.­..N...

[hoobit]

{Big sigh} One would *think* the auto-mod on this site would be set so it is appropriate to the anticipated discussion *bound* to result from the [specific] article(s) posted.

One would *think* an article such as the one above would have the auto-mod set so it did NOT automatically 'reject' posts with words like "5e x u al a.s.s.a.u.­l.t" written out in plain English and right next to each other. One would think...

How in the world can a group of thinking people discuss with any intelligence a subject as serious as this one is, if they have to 'play cutsie' with spelling? If they have to continually second guess whether the words they've chosen for their comment will be accepted and appear as part of the discussion, or if they'll be rejected and vanish into thin air with nary an explanation? {Sigh}

[StJames]

I believe there is a law against falsely accusing someone of a crime. This female should definitely be charged and prosecuted for this horror.

[EarlP]

The real point here is...Capit­alism has run amuck - but to no fault of it's own. It's us. It's the "way" we practice capitalism that has allowed it to become the source of all our pain.

These young men faces were put on TV for no other reason but TV ratings. TV news needs ratings...­to get the advertising dollars. (Capitalism running amuck) As long as we live in a society that prioritize the "dollar"' over what's good for people and society - we're doomed. Capitalism has run amuck in education, politics, health-care, food, diet, research, banking, nature, etc...,etc­... And frankly (I don't see how anyone can argue that capitalism hasnt run amuck). You want to fix this country? Well - that's where we begin - at the root of the problem, bad capitalism. All the factors that actually matter in our society are tainted by the way we practice capitalism, "dollar first". Once we learn to practice capitalism in a more ethical and/or moral fashion - we'll heal the world. (sort of)

[stryker]

Has fatboy limbaugh brought up the accused's races yet? Ansd will he apologize to them now that the "victim" has recanted? Probably not.

[cajajo]

This happens every single day. The registries are FULL of men who have been falsely convicted because they are coerced into plea 'bargains'.

"I'd never accept a plea if I wasn't guilty!"

Oh, yes, you would. Your attorney has taken every dime you have and wants to charge more, the DA is going to add more charges, your lawyer tells you the judge is biased and will throw the book at you, juries don't want to look soft on 'child molesters', you can be sent to prison for LIFE on a first offense, courts accept hearsay evidence from the 'victim', you aren't allowed to produce evidence of your innocence, the 'victim' is ALWAYS RIGHT AND ALWAYS COMES FIRST - NO MATTER WHAT.

This system is third world and very, very scary. Look out.

[420atmosphere]

No. I am sorry, but that is one charge I would never plea to if I wasn't guilty. You are wrong.

[SwingingFromCenter]

And you'd be st.rung up.

Look at the comments on this site from yesterday. Heck, look at a lot of them today. The mo.b mentality is as such to where the even mention of the word puts people against you, even if there is no logic or reason behind it. Merely being accused is a life sentence in this day and age, and with people such as what you find here on this forum infe.sting juries and ignoring the whole "innocent until proven guilty" thing simply because they want blo.od, you'd be figh.ting an uphill battle.

[jessicadevyn]

I would say there are many more men (and women) in prison on false or trumped up drug charges than anything else.

Very few sexual predators get life on a first offense. I don't know what planet you are living on. It's extremely difficult to get a rape conviction. It's really the most difficult thing to convict someone on. Yes, sometimes there are overzealous DAs and cops but this is very rare.

[Bryan C]

I think just like the identity of a rapist is made public to protect women from being victimized by a criminal, the identity of a woman who falsely accuses men of raping her should also be made public, so she doesn't do it to someone else again in the future.

I understand that if a man is falsely charged with rape, he will still have to register as a sex offender wherever he goes.

[Solja]

Not. If a person is "convicted" of rape, not charged, falsely or otherwise. You have to be found guilty in a court of law to be actually guilty, unless the Republicans tell the story. Then you're automatically guilty.

[cajajo]

Sorry, but you're wrong. There are many on the registries that have not been convicted.

[420atmosphere]

Her name is Danmell Ndoye.

[jessicadevyn]

For the record, I think the identities of anyone who hasn't been convicted of a crime (whether it's rape, robbery, whatever) should be kept hidden as best as possible.

[DeaconJoey]

Men... lesson of the day. Record EVERY sexual encounter. Whether a video or audio recording. Almost every cell phone or PDA has a record function that records video or audio. Use it.

It was a cell phone recording that FORCED the DA to have the charges dropped. I'm sure the DA was reminded about what happened to the Duke University DA that charged those innocent boys at Duke.

[jcwtts1]

How about stop have sex in bathrooms with 4 guys around.

[seattle music]

I think the point is that they may not be guilty, but the certainly are not innocent.

Ganging up with four guys and one girl - in a bathroom?

Didn't their parents teach them any better than that?

[Eris23]

Regardless of the fact that this is what got the boys out of trouble, given the girl obviously didn't know she was being taped, it shows exactly how low class they are.

[Solja]

Wait. You find the boys low class and not the girl? hahahaha What an absolute id!0t you are.

[DeaconJoey]

Regardless, if they hadn't taped the incident..­.. they would spend a large portion of their lives in prison. There's also a good chance they would have been subjected to rape in prison. Maybe even murder.

How evil can a woman be to do this to someone?

[Safire]

If they are low class, then she is a s*l*u*t, and a lying one at that. 5 guys in a restroom, and she consented? I am glad they taped her. Another injustice averted.

[cajajo]

Yeah, and get arrested for it.

[SwingingFromCenter]

When I was in uni, they actually handed out contracts to the students that we were supposed to carry around. Before doing the nasty, we were supposed to pull out one of them and have the other person sign, basically saying that they consented.

It's gotten ridiculous

[Polly Esther]

Hasn't these guys been vilified enough with their mugshots displayed everywhere. Where's this accuser's picture. I hope she get's charged. People have died because of false accusations like this.

[Rollingballafire]

Absolutely, they showed the pictures of the innocent young men, the girl obviously committed a crime and yet, no picture of the actual criminal?
Once again, highly suspect "news story".

[smithonpolitics-com]

I find it interesting that the police were able to give in depth interview, stating they believed the former guys committed the rape, all based on a lie. Presumption of guilt, folks! I want to know what kind of investigation they did, including efforts to verify truth. I know investigating rape is highly sensitive, but there should be a standard, boiler plate process, as non-intrusive as possible (considering actual rape victims' physical and mental states) whereby the truth is verified to some degree. Anyone with police procedure experience here, could you add any insight?

[InfinteShibumi]

She should do time. The boys at Duke and Emmett Till are just two cases where a girl too wrapped up in herself wreaks havoc on the lives of others.

[Ferrante Photo]

Till was lynched. I think the frat boys are alive & well. Google the Rosewood massacre & the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921 for more horror. Frat boys got off easy.

[Ronp]

Condolences to the four young men who were smeared by the press in a way that increasingly demeans the character and value of America. They are supposed to be protected by the intent of the 5th, 6th and 14th amendments to our Constitution and Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the US is a signatory of. Over and over again we see the press ignoring and intently circumventing such basic principles in the pursuit of revenue and prestige. I'm saddened that the Huffington Post has begun to slide down that slippery slope. Case in point - contrast the picture headlining the HP post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/15/hofstra-student-raped-on_n_286948.html with that of the picture headlining this story. It looks more like a perspective we've come to expect from New York Post or Fox.

[UCLAdy04]

Agreed from mugshots to a picture where you can barely see their faces...hm­m wonder why.

[cajajo]

When you're arrested for a sex crime, you have no rights.

[jessicadevyn]

Depending on who you are, (your race, socioeconomic status, sometimes celebrity helps) you have no rights (even though you are supposed to) after being arrested. Try being black and/or poor and being arrested for possession of marijuana.