RENO, Nev. (AP) _ Law enforcement officials in Nevada have no intention of opening a criminal investigation into allegations Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and Ohio native Ben Roethlisberger raped a woman at a Lake Tahoe hotel-casino a year ago, the sheriff’s department said Wednesday.
Douglas County Sheriff’s Deputy Teresa Duffy said the accuserwould have to file a criminal complaint to trigger an investigation into the incident the woman says occurred during a celebrity golf tournament last July while she was working as an executive casino host at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe.
“The victim is the only one who can do that,” Duffy told The Associated Press. “Unless there was a third party that actually witnessed the incident, which according to the civil case, was not the case here,” she said.
The 31-year-old woman, Andrea McNulty,who was working as a VIP host at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe at the time has filed a lawsuit saying Roethlisberger raped her in a hotel penthouse across the street from the golf course, a claim he vehemently denies.
McNulty, a native of Canada who had worked at Harrah’s since 2003, never went to the authorities with her story, and it’s unclear why she decided to file the lawsuit seeking hundreds of thousands of dollars a full year later.
“Ben has never sexually assaulted anyone. The timing of the lawsuit and the absence of a criminal complaint and a criminal investigation are the most compelling evidence of the absence of any criminal conduct,” Roethlisberger lawyer David Cornwell said in a statement. “If an investigation is commenced, Ben will cooperate fully and Ben will be fully exonerated.”
He did not immediately reply to a phone message and e-mail seeking more comment.