NO CHARGES FILED AGAINST TRAIL BLAZERS

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 28, 1993                   TAG: 9301280196
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
NO CHARGES FILED AGAINST TRAIL BLAZERS
Criminal charges won't be sought against members of the Portland Trail Blazers who had an alleged sex party with two 16-year-old girls, Salt Lake City police said Wednesday.
"Our investigation indicates that the females involved in this incident informed the ball players that they were 18 years of age and they did in fact consent to sexual contact," the police department said in a news release.
"It's a real important factor," police Lt. Marty Vuyk said. "These players had reason to believe the girls were old enough, that they were 18."
He said subsequent interviews with the two 16-year-olds indicated they consented to the alleged sex acts, even though one of the girls earlier had claimed coercion.
Vuyk said sex crimes investigators had completed their probe and that the results would be presented to the Salt Lake County attorney's office for review according to departmental procedure.
However, the investigators would recommend no criminal charges be filed.
The girls said they met the players at the Crossroads Plaza mall on Saturday, the day before Portland played the Utah Jazz, and that the players asked them to come to a party in their rooms.
What ensued was an alleged series of encounters in which one of the girls claimed she had sex with "four or five" players and the other with three, according to a police report. The 15-year-old said she didn't have sex but had watched her friends.
"It's been clearly established they did in fact consent," Vuyk said. He said alcohol was present in the hotel rooms but the girls did not drink.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB