Philadelphia Soul sex assault?

[Odie]

From KYW-TV 3's website:

Mar 15, 2006 8:58 am US/Eastern

Soul Players Investigated After Alleged Assault

(CBS 3) KANSAS CITY Police are investigating claims from a Kansas City woman that a member of the Philadelphia Soul arena football team sexually assaulted her.

The 23-year-old woman told police she meet several members of the team while with a friend at a local bar called the Empire Room early Tuesday morning. After the bar closed, the woman said the group went to a convenience store when her friend and another person decided to leave.

Police said the victim claimed she went back to a room at the Hilton President Hotel with three of the players. The woman alleges the two players held her down against her will, while a third raped her.

The unidentified victim told police after the assault, a fourth person gathered her things and escorted her to a taxi.

Five members of the Philadelphia Soul went to police headquarters for questioning and agreed to submit D.N.A. samples.

Officials investigating the incident removed several bags of evidence from the hotel for further examination.

Philadelphia Soul General Manager Richard Lisk responded to the claims saying, ”Some of our players cooperated with authorities as witnesses regarding an incident that occurred at our hotel. We cannot elaborate because it is a legal matter. However, the players and our entire organization are now focused on our game in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday.”

Officials are still investigating the incident, but currently no charges have been filed.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

[Odie]

Mar 16, 2006 11:14 pm US/Eastern

Investigation Involving Soul Players Dropped

(CBS 3) KANSAS CITY The rape investigation involving players from the Philadelphia Soul arena football team was dropped Thursday at the request of the woman who made the allegations.

Kansas City police say the woman who claimed a member of the arena football team sexually assaulted her, requested the case be closed and no further investigation take place.

A statement released by the Kansas City Police Department read, "Since the victim has requested the case be closed, no further investigation will take place and the case will be inactivated."

The five players in question were never considered suspects and were extremely cooperative throughout the investigation.

The Soul released a statement that said, "Today's (Thursday) action by the Kansas City Police Department at the request of the victim validates what we have been saying since Tuesday afternoon--that our players cooperated with police, were not suspects and would never be considered suspects."

The 23-year-old woman told police she met several members of the team while with a friend at a local bar called the Empire Room early Tuesday morning. After the bar closed, the woman said the group went to a convenience store when her friend and another person decided to leave.

Police said the victim claimed she went back to a room at the Hilton President Hotel with three of the players where she alleged two players held her down against her will while a third raped her.

The unidentified woman told police after the assault, a fourth person gathered her things and escorted her to a taxi.

Five members of the Philadelphia Soul went to police headquarters for questioning and agreed to submit D.N.A. samples officials investigating the incident removed several bags of evidence from the hotel.

Officials continued to investigate the alleged incident and Thursday afternoon announced the investigation had been dropped at the request of the victim.

(© MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

[preeths]

Hopefully, no damage has been done to the organization or the players. Not clear what happened here, but the players seemed very cooperative if they went so far as to provide DNA samples. Doesn't appear they had anything to hide.