Kim Roberts Grabs Opportunity

(October 30, 2006 -- Scroll down for update.)
It's the American way.

When an opportunity presents itself, you make the most of it.

So, the "2nd stripper"(AKA Kim Roberts) of the Duke lacrosse team scandal decided to contact a PR firm.She wrote:

Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 2:21 PM

To: Ronn Torossian

Subject: duke lacrosse scandal

Hi!

My name is Kim and I am involved in the Duke Lacrosse scandal. Although I am no celebrity and just an average citizen, I've found myself in the center of one of the biggest stories in the country. 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. I am determined not to let any negative publicity about my life overtake me. I'm so confused as to who to talk to for relevant advice and I hope that you can return my e-mail. If you cannot help, do you know of any names and numbers I can call?

Thanks for your time,

The 2nd Dancer...

5W Public Relations released this statement to the press, regarding Roberts' e-mail.

"We understand now that we were contacted because of our experience in crisis communications with high profile individuals, particularly our representation of Lil' Kim of whom this woman is a huge fan. We have been in discussions with her and are currently evaluating our position on this matter. I have been asked why she contacted us — My response: Anyone who is in the firing line of the media should contact a PR firm — The media swarms are very intimidating and scary and people should always contact media experts before speaking with the media," said Ronn Torossian, CEO of 5W Public Relations.

There is SO much about this Duke lacrosse team mess that is unseemly.

This can be added to the pile.

"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," Roberts explains.

Someone may have been raped and Roberts is eager to make the "best of it."

That's disgusting.
From AP, more on Roberts and her plans to capitalize on her lucky break.

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 said she knows what it's like to sit in jail, and that she would never wrongly accuse an innocent person.

"If the boys are innocent, sorry fellas," she said. "Sorry you had to go through this."

But unlike her and the other dancer, she said, they have money to hire the best attorneys.

"If they're innocent, they will not go to jail," she said. But, she added, "If the truth is on their side, why are they supporting it with so many lies?"

Roberts is bracing for an all-out attack, but said she's almost past caring.

"Don't forget that they called me a damn nigger," 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 makes the case that since the alleged victim was "just passed-out drunk," according to a police officer's description, her suffering was worse in a sense.

The victim was too drunk to be aware of any racial slurs being thrown at her. Roberts, on the other hand, was able to take it all in.

Whatever really happened that night, I don't doubt that it wasn't a pleasant experience for Roberts. However, her e-mail to 5W Public Relations makes it very difficult to view her as a victim in the matter.

She wants to the seize the opportunity, take the lemons and make lemonade. Is that wrong?

I think so. She shouldn't be trying to join the ranks of America's notorious royalty -- Tonya Harding, John Wayne Bobbitt, Joey Buttafuoco types.

Rather than contacting a PR firm to "spin this to [her] advantage," she should contact an employment agency and use her new found fame to find someone to offer her a decent job, one that doesn't require her to disrobe for drooling strangers.

________________________________

UPDATE:

Kim Roberts is getting some more press.
Newsweek is obliging.

When you read about Roberts' latest accusations, keep this in mind, from the Associated Press:

The [defense] 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...

"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.

That embezzlement charge, coupled with her active solicitation of PR specialists to help her "spin" the scandal to her advantage, significantly diminishes Roberts' claim to victim status.

She's a victimizer. She is an exploiter.

A question:

Will Jesse Jackson offer to pay for a college education for Roberts?

He's offered the alleged rape victim a scholarship, because he has "compassion and pity" for her.

Jackson said, "Don't strip. Scholarship."

What about Roberts? She needs help, too.

Does Jackson have a rhyme for her?
_______________________________

UPDATE: "Go Ahead, Put Marks on Me"

Oct. 30, 2006 — The second dancer in the Duke rape case has said for the first time that the accuser told her to "go ahead, put marks on me" after the alleged attack.

Dancer Kim Roberts made the new allegation — which she has not shared with authorities — in an interview with Chris Cuomo that aired today on "Good Morning America."

Roberts' allegation comes after Durham District Attorney Mike Nifong's admission in court last week that he has not yet interviewed the accuser "about the facts of that night."

As she drove the accuser from the March 2006 Duke lacrosse party, Roberts told ABC News the woman was clearly impaired and "talking crazy."

Roberts said she tried several different times to get the accuser out of her car.

"The trip in that car from the house … went from happy to crazy," Roberts told Cuomo. "I tried all different ways to get through to her."

"I tried to be funny and nice," she said. "Then I tried to, you know, be stern with her. … We're kind of circling around, and as we're doing that, my last-ditch attempt to get her out of the car, I start to kind of, you know, push and prod her, you know."

Roberts said she told the woman, "Get out of my car. Get out of my car."

"I … push on her leg. I kind of push on her arm," Roberts said. "And clear as a bell, it's the only thing I heard clear as a bell out of her was, she said — she pretty much had her head down, but she said plain as day — 'Go ahead, put marks on me. That's what I want. Go ahead.'"

Roberts said the comments "chilled me to the bone, and I decided right then and there to go to the authorities."

...Three Duke lacrosse players — Dave Evans, Collin Finnerty and Reade Seligmann — were charged last spring with rape and kidnapping for the alleged attack on the exotic dancer, who had been hired by the men to perform at the off-campus party.

All three men have vigorously declared their innocence, inside and outside of court.

Defense attorneys for the players declined to comment on Roberts' remarks.

Back in April when I first wrote about Roberts, the infamous "second stripper," the very unfair assumption was that the "first stripper" had been raped.

Clearly, Roberts is a liar. But it appears that she finally has come clean. Now, she's willing to take a lie detector test to verify her newest version of the events.

The defamation that the Duke lacrosse players have suffered cannot be undone.

No apology will suffice.