Lawrence Taylor charged with raping 16-year-old runaway

Pro Football Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor was charged Thursday with raping a 16-year-old runaway who police said was forced into prostitution by a man who had beaten her up.

Taylor, a 51-year-old former New York Giants star who has faced drug and tax evasion charges in the past, paid the girl $300 for sex in a Holiday Inn, where he was arrested early Thursday, said Christopher St. Lawrence, supervisor of the town of Ramapo, N.Y.

The man who’d beaten the girl drove her to Taylor’s suburban hotel room while she texted her uncle for help, police said.

Ramapo Chief of Police Peter Brower said Taylor was cooperative when police woke him up around 4 a.m. Taylor was arraigned Thursday on charges of third-degree rape and patronizing a prostitute.

“I’m not that important,” Taylor told a scrum of media after being released on $75,000 bail.

His attorney, Arthur Aidala, said Taylor is a “loving family man” who did not have sex with the teenager.

“My client did not have sex with anybody,” Aidala said. “Lawrence Taylor did not rape anybody.”

Brower would not comment on whether Taylor knew the girl’s age; third-degree rape is a charge levied when the victim is under the age of consent, which is 17 in New York.

“Ignorance is not an excuse to an individual’s age,” Brower said.

Police said the girl was reported missing by her family in March and had been staying with a 36-year-old parolee, Rasheed Davis, in the Bronx. The two met a few weeks ago at a Bronx bus stop, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said.

“He chats her up. She explains she doesn’t have a place to stay. He provides one,” Browne said.

Davis then forced her to perform sexual favors for others, authorities said.

Early Thursday morning, Davis punched and kicked her, drove her to the hotel against her will and told her she had to have sex with Taylor, police said. When she refused, Davis handed her over to Taylor, who sexually assaulted her, they said. Taylor paid her $300, which she gave to Davis, police said.

On the way to Suffern, the girl sent text messages to her uncle spelling out what was happening, Browne said. The uncle then went to the NYPD, he said.

Davis was arrested on charges of unlawful imprisonment, assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He was sentenced in April 1994 to eight to 25 years in prison for first-degree manslaughter. He was paroled in March 2008.

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A Minnesota judge chastised the NFL and said the league broke state law even as he handed the league a significant victory in a closely watched lawsuit by two Minnesota Vikings challenging their suspensions for taking a banned substance.

Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson said the NFL failed to notify the two players of their test results within three days, as required in Minnesota, and said an NFL official played “a game of ‘gotcha”’ with them. But he said that wasn’t enough to block the NFL’s plan to suspend the players for four games each.

The decision doesn’t necessarily clear the way for the NFL to suspend Kevin Williams and Pat Williams for part of next season, however. The judge put off a decision on whether to extend an injunction blocking the suspensions pending an expected appeal by the players. A decision isn’t expected for about two weeks.

The NFL first attempted to suspend the defensive tackles in December 2008, a few months after they tested positive for a banned diuretic that was in the StarCaps weight-loss supplement they were taking. They were not accused of taking steroids and said they had no idea the diuretic was in the supplement.

The players challenged their suspensions while their lawsuit played out in federal and state court. They got to play for the entire 2009-10 season, helping Minnesota reach the NFC championship game, where it lost to eventual Super Bowl winner New Orleans.

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Adam “Pacman” Jones has agreed to a two-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals, putting the troubled cornerback on a team with a history of giving players second chances. Cincinnati was among a handful of teams that showed an interest in Jones, who was released by the Dallas Cowboys after the 2008 season and didn’t play last year. Only 26 years old, Jones has seen his career bottom out because of his repeated arrests.

VOLLEYBALL

Will Price and Joe Sunder each had 18 kills to help No. 12 Penn State reach the NCAA men’s volleyball championship with a 30-21, 30-23, 30-28 win over No. 3 Cal State Northridge at Stanford. Jacek Ratajczak had 15 kills for the Matadors (23-10).

Penn State (24-7) will play Stanford in the final. The Cardinal beat Ohio State.

TENNIS

Two-time champion Jelena Jankovic rolled to a surprisingly easy 6-0, 6-1 win over Venus Williams and prevented an all-Williams semifinal at the Italian Open in Rome.

Earlier, Serena Williams overcame a rough stretch in the second set to dispatch Maria Kirilenko, 6-1, 6-4. In the other half of the draw, former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic beat 14th-seeded Nadia Petrova, 6-2, 7-5 and will face 26th-ranked Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain. She defeated Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (6), 6-4.

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Defending champion Novak Djokovic advanced to the quarterfinals of his hometown tournament by beating Fabio Fognini of Italy, 6-4, 6-4, in the second round of the Serbia Open in Belgrade.

John Isner of the United States made it to his first quarterfinal since February by defeating Josselin Ouanna of France, 6-2, 6-4 , while Richard Gasquet ousted Andreas Seppi of Italy, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.

BASKETBALL

Boston Celtics General Manager Danny Ainge was fined $25,000 by the NBA for tossing a towel to try to distract Cleveland Cavaliers forward J.J. Hickson as he shot a free throw. Ainge, who was sitting courtside under the Cavaliers’ basket, flipped a white towel over his head during the third quarter of Monday night’s playoff game between Boston and Cleveland. The Celtics led by 23 points at the time, and Hickson made the free throw anyway.

Stu Jackson, the league’s executive vice president of basketball operations, fined Ainge for “an unauthorized distraction and for conduct detrimental to the game.”

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Gordon Hayward, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward who led Butler to the NCAA championship game, confirmed to the Associated Press that we will remain in the NBA draft, giving up his final two years of college eligibility.

ETC.

With construction companies eager to bid for work in a sluggish economy, the $165-million renovation of Pauley Pavilion could come in almost $50 million cheaper, UCLA administrators said Thursday.

But tough times have also stalled a $100-million fundraising campaign at about the $65-million mark. With a groundbreaking ceremony scheduled for Tuesday, Athletic Director Dan Guerrero said he hoped to see “a wave of loyal Bruins” joining the more than 600 donors the project has attracted so far.

—David Wharton

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The Ducks signed left wing Josh Brittain to a three-year entry-level contract. Brittain, 20, had 15 goals and 32 points in 68 games in the Ontario Hockey League.

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Trainer Bob Baffert says he’s leaning toward running beaten Kentucky Derby favorite Lookin At Lucky in the Preakness. Baffert said Thursday there’s a 51% chance Lookin at Lucky will be at Pimlico for the second jewel of the Triple Crown next Saturday. That’s up from the 50-50 odds Baffert gave after the Derby.

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Two mushers who participated in the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race have tested positive for THC, the pyschoactive compound in marijuana, race officials in Anchorage said. But Stan Hooley, executive director of the Iditarod Trail Committee, said a new rule calling for drug testing isn’t clear enough to allow them to impose sanctions against the mushers, who were among the back-of-the-packers in the 1,100-mile race.

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Anthony Kim had surgery on his left thumb, which will keep him out of the U.S. Open and possibly the British Open this summer. Kim is expected to be out for 10 to 12 weeks as he recovers from a torn ligament suffered a few months ago.

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Manchester United will compete in the MLS All-Star game against the league’s top players on July 28 at Houston’s Reliant Stadium.

PASSINGS

Robin Roberts, the tireless Hall of Fame pitcher who led the Philadelphia Phillies to the 1950 National League pennant as part of the famed “Whiz Kids,” died Thursday of natural causes at his home in Temple Terrace, Fla. He was 83.