By Jim Scott and Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editors
MANHATTAN — New York Giants legend Lawrence Taylor was arrested Thursday morning for allegedly raping an underage girl in a Rockland County hotel room, police said.
The alleged victim was a 16-year-old runaway from the Bronx who was brought to the hotel by a pimp against her will at 1 a.m. and sexually assaulted by Taylor early Thursday morning, according to Ramapo police.
"She was a runaway since March and there was a pimp involved," Ramapo Town Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence said.
Taylor, 51, was arrested at the Holiday Inn in Suffern, N.Y., around 3:54 a.m. The former Giants star allegedly paid $300 to have sex with the girl, Ramapo Detective Brad Weidel said during a press conference Thursday afternoon.
The Hall of Fame linebacker was charged with third-degree rape because the girl was a year below the legal age of consent in New York state. If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to four years in prison. Taylor is also being charged with patronizing a prostitute, a misdemeanor that's punishable with up to a year in jail.
“I’ve known Lawrence for 20 years and I’ve represented him for the better part of the last 15 and I’ve never seen him this distraught,” said Mark Lepselter, a longtime friend and business partner of Taylor's.
Taylor is being held on $75,000 bail and will have to return to court in Ramapo on June 10.
Police said the victim was 15-years old when she ran away from her Bronx home in March. She was allegedly driven to Taylor's hotel room by a pimp and later texted her uncle on the drive back to the Bronx, the Daily News reported.
Her uncle called police in the Bronx who tracked down the pimp and arrested him, the News reported. The alleged pimp, Rasheed Davis, 36, faces charges in New York City of unlawful imprisonment, assault and endangering the welfare of a child, the NYPD said.
Davis “struck the young girl with his fist, kicked her and brought her to the Holiday Inn against her will,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said.
After arresting Davis, the NYPD alerted Ramapo police who went to the Holiday Inn and eventually arrested Taylor, the News reported.
Taylor patrolled the line of scrimmage as an outside linebacker for the Giants from 1981 to 1993 and is considered one of the greatest football players of all time. He led New York to Super Bowl titles in 1987 and 1991.
Taylor, a 10-time Pro Bowler, recorded 132.5 career sacks for the Giants and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999. He won the NFL MVP in 1986 and won the defensive player of the year award in 1981, 1982 and 1986.
Taylor has had several run-ins with the law since his retirement in 1993.
In 1996 and 1997, he was arrested in South Carolina and Florida on drug charges. He received five years of probation for filing false tax returns and tax evasion in 2000.
Taylor was convicted in 2001 of possessing drug paraphernalia in New Jersey after police discovered a butane torch and other materials commonly used to smoke crack in his hotel room in 1998.
More recently, Taylor improved his public image enough to be a pitchman for the NutriSystem diet plan. He also competed on ABC's popular reality program "Dancing with the Stars."
However, Taylor found himself back in the news late last year in Miami after he was arrested for leaving the scene of an accident.
“I think Lawrence is very upset. He’s worked very hard over the last 12 years to change perceptions about him," Lepselter said. "The guy I deal with on a day-in and day-out basis is someone who a lot of people are very fond of."
