2 Va. Tech players are disciplined

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Senior fullback Brian Edmonds and reserve sophomore wide receiver James Crawford also filed a $32 million slander and extortion lawsuit Tuesday against the woman who said they raped her.

The players were arrested Monday, and each was charged with one count of rape and attempted sodomy. They were released on $45,000 bond apiece and denied raping the woman.

"Brian Edmonds will not ever play football again at Virginia Tech," athletic director Dave Braine said. "James Crawford's future is up in the air."

"This is a serious charge, and the police would not have arrested them had they not sufficient evidence to support the belief that a crime has occurred," Braine said.

The woman told police investigators Edmonds and Crawford raped her early Saturday after a party at their apartment. She said she was treated for minor injuries later at a hospital.

She told WDBJ-TV in Roanoke that she dated Crawford in the summer of 1995 and had no reason to mistrust him or Edmonds. She said the players raped her after everyone else left the party.

The woman said she went back to confront the players in the apartment later because she wanted to hurt them like they had hurt her.

Edmonds and Crawford seek $32 million in damages against the woman in the lawsuit they filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The lawsuit claims the woman broke into the players' apartment about 5 a.m. Saturday, several hours after the party was over.

Crawford claims the woman came into his room while he was sleeping, hit him with her boot and told him she was going to ruin his life if he did not pay her.

Edmonds claims in the suit that the woman demanded $25,000 or she would falsely accuse him of rape. He said she also asked for $5,000 per week if he is drafted into the National Football League.

The lawsuit claims the rape allegations make Edmonds and Crawford less marketable as NFL prospects.

The players swore out criminal complaints against the woman Tuesday, but the woman has not been charged with a crime, police chief Bill Brown said. He declined to discuss the case further.

Matt Pethybridge, a Blacksburg attorney representing the players, said he has witnesses who were with the players at the time the woman says she was raped, including one who claimed to be sleeping on the couch at the time.