Friday, August 28, 1998

Police still studying topless dancer's charges against Larry Allen

By DENNE H. FREEMAN AP Sports Writer

DALLAS (AP) - All-Pro offensive lineman Larry Allen isn't talking about a dancer's allegations that the Dallas Cowboys raped her at knifepoint.

The 37-year-old woman told police Allen forced her to have sex last Monday in the parking lot of Kings' Cabaret. No charges have been filed.

Team owner Jerry Jones, who has worked to polish the Cowboys' tarnished image, said he wouldn't pass judgment on the Allen case until all the facts are in.

Allen is the fourth Cowboys player to be accused of sexual assault in less than two years. No charges have been filed in the previous cases.

"It's more appropriate to make any comments when all the facts have been examined," Jones said. "Until that time, I don't think it's fair for anyone to jump to any conclusions."

Controlling player behavior has been a problem for Dallas going back to the Tom Landry era. The Cowboys hired a former FBI agent, Larry Wansley, to keep an eye on the players for any unsavory acts.

In April 1997, Jones sought to improve the Cowboys' image by setting up a 10-member department headed by Calvin Hill and Robert Newhouse to monitor player behavior.

Jones said at the time that "the fans of the Cowboys deserve this type of intense commitment to good behavior. We have a very keen sensitivity and feeling about where we've been regarding our on- and off-field behavior."

Wide receiver Michael Irvin is on probation because of drug possession. Last month, he was involved in a dorm altercation at training camp in which guard Everett McIver was cut in the neck with scissors.

The Cowboys' new coach, Chan Gailey, called it "horseplay." Both the Dallas County probation office and the NFL investigated, but took no action.

Defensive tackle Leon Lett is back on the team after missing 13 games under NFL suspension last year for substance abuse violations.

Jones has installed video cameras in training camp dormitories and banned alcohol on team flights.

But he was embarrassed last year when then-coach Barry Switzer was arrested in the Dallas-Fort Worth airport for having a gun in his carry-on luggage.

Last summer, a Dallas County grand jury declined to indict Nate Newton after a Grand Prairie woman told police he raped her. In December 1996, a former topless dancer told police that wide receiver Michael Irvin threatened her with a gun while lineman Erik Williams and another man raped her. The accuser, Nina Shahravan, later recanted and pleaded guilty to perjury.

An immigration judge deciding whether to deport Shahravan to her native Iran said Wednesday he will ask a federal magistrate to issue subpoenas for Irvin and Williams after they failed to appear at a hearing Wednesday. Failure to respond to the subpoenas could lead to criminal contempt charges.

The Cowboys lost a preseason game 42-20 at Jacksonville on Thursday night.

"I'm not talking," Allen said after the game.

Cowboys coach Chan Gailey also had little to say.

"I just heard mention of it," Gailey said. "I don't have enough facts to comment on it."

In Allen's case, a dancer told police he entered the club where she works around 4:10 p.m. Monday.

The accuser told police that Allen ordered drinks and a table dance from her, then said he needed to talk to her. They went outside, got into his car and drove behind the club.

She said Allen put his hand on a knife that was in the car's console and forced her to have sex.

Her affidavit said Allen dropped the woman off at the front door of the club, and she finished her work shift. She then drove to her aunt's house, where she called the police at 7:40 p.m. and then went to a hospital for an examination.

Kings' Cabaret day shift manager Dale Saleeby told The Associated Press that Allen left the club about 5:30 p.m., and the dancer followed him out to his car.

"She told me she was going to tell him goodbye," Saleeby said.

The woman mentioned nothing out of the ordinary when she returned about 10 minutes later, Saleeby said.

"I'm her manager and not once did she say, 'Hey, I just got raped,' or anything," he said. "(She was) just smiling away, her normal little bee-bop self."

Saleeby said he planned to fire the woman after the alleged incident "for being a trouble-maker," but she quit.

The club manager added that he had seen Allen in the club about once every two or three weeks for the past couple months.

On Tuesday, police obtained a warrant to search Allen's black 1998 Mercedes in suburban Coppell.

"I think the investigation is progressing, but it's too early to say what the conclusion will be," Dallas police Sgt. Jim Chandler said.

"We've talked with both the complainant and the suspect," he said. "The issue is not whether it happened but whether it was consensual. It's a 'he said, she said' issue," Chandler told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

He said the decision on whether to file charges probably will be left to the Dallas County grand jury.

Jones made the 6-foot-3, 326-pound Allen, who played in the last two Pro Bowls, the highest-paid lineman in the NFL in January with a six-year contract worth $24 million, a total since surpassed by the $26.6 million deal signed by San Diego's John Jackson.

"I don't view it as a distraction," Jones said of the latest negative story. "It's regrettable for Larry, but it won't impact how we will prepare. We're going to do everything we can to minimize this sort of incident."