LaChapelle |
05-25-2009 08:28 PM |
By LARRY CELONA, PERRY CHIARAMONTE and DAN MANGAN
FUROR: A woman who says she met Kerry Rhodes (above) and a pal at a Manhattan club alleges she was raped at the Jet's home. New Jersey cops are investigating a woman's claim that she was raped at the home of star Jets defensive back Kerry Rhodes after meeting him and another man at a Manhattan nightclub, The Post has learned.
The woman, a Canadian tourist, told NYPD cops that two men raped her late Friday or early Saturday in Morristown, NJ, where the 26-year-old Jet safety has a town house, New York law-enforcement sources said.
Rhodes, in a statement issued through a Jets spokesman, said: "I briefly talked with police on Saturday regarding an incident that allegedly took place at my home. The police confirmed to me that I am not the subject of this allegation."
Morristown Police Lt. David Ackerman said, "It's an ongoing investigation," and refused to comment further when asked about Rhodes. Morristown police and Morris County Sheriff's Department officers visited Rhodes' town house twice Saturday, neighbors said. That morning, cops drove two men -- neither of whom were in handcuffs away from the home in a police car and dropped them off back there several hours later, a neighbor said.
The 6-foot-3, 220-pound Rhodes, a native of Bessemer, Ala., who was drafted out of the University of Louisville in 2005 by the Jets, signed a $33 million, five-year contract extension with the team last year. Asked about Rhodes last night, a Jets spokesman said the club was "gathering information."
The NYPD sources said the Canadian tourist visited the 1st Precinct station house in lower Manhattan Saturday afternoon to make a complaint. The woman told police that she had gone out Friday night with a female friend to a Manhattan nightclub, where they met two men, one of whom was Rhodes, the sources said. The woman did not know who Rhodes was at the time, but her girlfriend did, sources said. The woman said she left the club with Rhodes and the other man and went with them to a Morristown residence, according to the sources. There, she told cops, two men raped her, sources said. Because the alleged sex assault occurred in Morristown, NYPD officers drove the woman to the Morristown Police Department to make her complaint there, according to sources. The woman then was taken to a local hospital to undergo a rape-kit examination, the sources said.
In addition to his football career, Rhodes has modeled and appeared in two movies: "Queen of Media," about New York DJ Wendy Williams, and an independent film about relationship dilemmas called "Misunderstandings," in which he had a steamy hot-tub scene. His nickname is "Hollywood."
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