Attorneys for the reigning Super Bowl champion denied the allegations Tuesday, noting that the accuser, identified as Andrea McNulty, never went to the authorities to report the alleged sexual assault.
(Pictures Of Roethlisberger Accuser Andrea McNulty After The Jump….)
“This weekend Andrea McNulty served Ben Roethlisberger with a civil complaint accusing him of sexually assaulting her in July 2008. Ben has never sexually assaulted anyone; especially Andrea McNulty. 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. If an investigation is commenced, Ben will cooperate fully and Ben will be fully exonerated,” David Cornwell, Ben’s attorney, said in a statement Tuesday.
McNulty, who was working at the Harrah’s Lake Tahoe as an executive casino host, says she didn’t file a criminal complaint because she feared Harrah’s would side with Roethlisberger and she would be fired.
The lawsuit claims the 6-foot-5, 240 athlete grabbed McNulty and began kissing her against her will after she entered his suite to fix a technical problem. It was then that she was “shocked and stunned that this previously friendly man, that appeared to be a gentleman in her previous contacts with him was suddenly preventing her from leaving, was assaulting her and battering her.”
Andrea said she feared that because Roethlisberger is a strong man, he could physically harm her if she tried to fight him off — but she says she objected several times.
“But instead of stopping, Roethlisberger began fondling plaintiff through her dress and between her legs,” the suit said. He then “held her against her will and physically moved plaintiff and pushed her onto his bed” where he raped her, the suit reads.
She told him “You don’t want to do this,” and begged him “I am not on any type of birth control.”
Andrea McNulty is seeking $440,000 in the suit, which names Ben Roethlisberger and eight Harrah’s employees as defendants. McNulty believes hotel officials for Harrah’s Lake Tahoe went to great lengths to cover up her assault and delay the NFL’s star’s prosecution.
