Crystal Mangum (left), the stripper who falsely accused three lacrosse players at Duke University of raping her at a fraternity party, is in the slammer again. This time, the Southern version of Tawana Brawley is suspected of stabbing her boyfriend.
According to the Raleigh News and Observer, police seized knives from her apartment and charged the 32-year-old burlesque dancer with "assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill[,] inflicting serious injury."
Mangum’s beau suffered a stab wound to the chest, and he is being treated at Duke University Hospital.
Mangum’s Claim To Fame
Beyond her life of crime, Mangum’s most famous performance as a stripper came in 2006, when she showed up at a party hosted at the home of the Duke lacrosse team’s two captains.
During the festivities, Mangum alleged, the lacrosse players raped and sexually assaulted her. Mangum’s was a wild tale, something on the order of the whopper Brawley concocted in 1987. But it nonetheless led to lurid accusations in the press. The team and the accused players were smeared coast to coast, particularly in the New York Times, and professors at the school declared them guilty before trial.
Duke canceled the remainder of the team’s 2006 season.
In the end, however, Mangum’s story was revealed to be a lie. The prosecutor was disbarred and spent a day in jail.
The case was, North Carolina’s attorney general said, a "tragic rush to accuse."
He dismissed charges against the three players, who then filed lawsuits. Last week, a federal judge said that the lawsuits, filed against the prosecutor and police, can proceed.
Mangum’s Record Since 2006
But between Mangum’s 15 minutes of fame after making false allegations about the lacrosse players and her latest arrest, lawmen have crossed her incorrigible trail at least once. Indeed, Mangum is quite the criminal. In February 2010, her 9-year-old called police because Mangum and a previous boyfriend were fighting.
Reported the News and Observer:
In February 2010, police accused Mangum of slashing the vehicle tires of her boyfriend Milton Walker, smashing his windshield with a vacuum cleaner and setting fire to a pile of his clothes in a bathtub while the police and her three children were in her apartment.
Mangum was convicted of child abuse, vandalism and resisting an officer.
The felony arson charge against Mangum was dismissed earlier this year.
Photo: Crystal Mangum, the false accuser in the Duke lacrosse rape case, wipes away tears during a press conference on Oct. 23, 2008.
