DOCUMENT: Crime

Duke Rape Indictment

Lacrosse players charged with sexual assault, kidnapping of dancer

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Duke Rape Indictment

APRIL 18--Two Duke University lacrosse players have been charged with the rape and kidnapping of an exotic dancer who claims that she was assaulted last month at a team party. Reade Seligmann and Collin Finnerty, both sophomores, were named in indictments unsealed today. Copies of the felony charges can be found below. Seligmann and Finnerty were arrested early this morning and subsequently released on $400,000 bond. According to the dancer, a 27-year-old North Carolina Central University student, she was sexually assaulted by a trio of men in the bathroom of a home shared by three of the lacrosse squad's captains. Her account of the March 14 incident is contained in this detailed search warrant application. The 19-year-old Finnerty (left) and Seligmann, 20, are pictured above in booking photos snapped this morning at the Durham County Detention Facility. A North Carolina grand jury voted indictments against the athletes during sessions last Wednesday and yesterday. A judge ordered the indictments sealed after District Attorney Michael Nifong filed motions arguing that there was a 'substantial risk' that Seligmann and Finnerty would flee if given advance notice of the charges. If convicted, Nifong noted, Finnerty, from Garden City, N.Y., and Seligmann, from Essex Fells, N.J., would each face a minimum prison term of between 12 and 15 years. (8 pages)