December 22, 2006

Who is Crystal Gail Mangum?

Crystal Gail Mangum (R) is the 27 year old woman who has accused three Duke Lacrosse Players of rape. Crystal Mangum and Kim Roberts are strippers who were hired to dance for 40 Duke lacrosse players at a house where some of the players resided.

Crystal Mangum
claims that on March 13, 2006, three white members of Duke University's lacrosse team beat, strangled, sodomized and sexually assaulted her anally, vaginally and orally. Her father told authorities several weeks later that she was also penetrated with a broom. The three players she fingered have been indicted on charges of first degree forcible rape, first degree sexual offense and kidnapping.

So, who is Crystal G. Mangum?

* She was born on July 16, 1978 to Mary and Travis Mangum.
* She is the youngest of three children raised in a working-class Durham neighborhood.
* She graduated in 1996 from Hillside High School in Durham, NC.
* She joined the Navy in the fall of 1996, signing up for an 8 years- two years of active duty followed by six years in the reserves. She was discharged in 1998.

* She married a man named Kenneth McNeill, who 14 years her senior in the fall of 1997. They were married for 17 months.
* She is divorced with two children. She has gone to court to force the children's father to pay child support.
* She had worked at a nursing facility and on an assembly line making catalytic reducers at $10.50 per hour.
* She went to Durham Technical Community College and graduated in 2004 with an associate degree.

* She is a registered Democratic voter.
* She was a full-time, second-year student at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) this semester. She is a police psychology student with a 3.0 grade average.

* She was living in her parents home with her two children prior to the reported attack.
* She had a nervous breadkdown in 2005.

* She has a criminal record.

Crystal G. Mangum's brush with the law:

* In 2002, she stole a taxi from the man whom she was giving a lap dance. A high speed chase ensued and when the deputy chasing her approached the stolen taxi on foot, she tried to run him over. She pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of larceny, speeding to elude arrest, assault on a government official and driving while impaired. She served 3 weekends in jail and paid restitution. - ESPN

Crystal G. Mangum's past accusations:

* She made a similar rape claim in the past, but she did not pursue it. On Aug. 18, 1996, Crystal Mangum, then 18 years old, told a police officer in Creedmoor she had been raped by three men in June 1993, according to a police document. She did not pursue the allegations. The officer who took the woman's report 10 years ago asked her to write a detailed timeline of the night's events and bring the account back to the police. "Apparently she never returned," Granville County DA Sam Currin said." - The Duke Chronicle

* She told authorities that in 1998, her husband threatened to kill her. However, she did not appear at the court hearing and thus the charges were dropped. - LA Times