THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY, Nev. -- A Canadian woman who has accused Ben Roethlisberger of raping her at a Lake Tahoe hotel drafted her own resignation letter in an e-mail as a spoof after she had sex with the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to court documents filed by lawyers seeking to dismiss the case on behalf of seven casino employees.
The email and others between the woman and Guy Hyder, chief of security at Harrah's Lake Tahoe, were included in the motion filed late Tuesday in Washoe District Court in Reno.
In one email to Hyder, the woman apparently spoofed a memo from Harrah's President John Koster to staff, announcing her immediate resignation.
"She is with Big Bens child and ... she has relocated to Pittsburgh," the email said. "We wish her good luck (she will need it) in her future endeavors."
The woman's lawyer did not immediately return calls for comment Wednesday evening.
The woman, a VIP casino hostess, filed the civil suit against Roethlisberger in July, claiming the Super Bowl-winning quarterback raped her in 2008 in a hotel penthouse across the street from a golf course where he was playing in a celebrity tournament.
Roethlisberger and his lawyers deny the woman's allegations, and last week accused her in court documents of fabricating the assault to extort a big payoff from him.
The woman said she reported the incident to Harrah's security but never filed a criminal complaint because she feared Harrah's would side with Roethlisberger and she would be fired. She also accused Harrah's officials of orchestrating a cover-up.
The suit seeks a minimum of US$440,000 in damages from Roethlisberger, at least $50,000 in damages from the eight Harrah's officials named as defendants and an unspecified amount of punitive damages..
In the motion to dismiss, Margo Piscevich, lawyer for several casino workers, including Hyder, said the woman kept the casino security chief "informed with running email commentary about her plan to have sex with Roethlisberger."
"Hyder did not report it to management, since having consensual sex with a hotel patron, while on the job, would get her fired," the motion said.
It added that her suit "is cloaked in a media-attention-getting, sensationalized and inflammatory pleading" that lacks any legal basis against the casino workers.
The woman alleges Roethlisberger assaulted her after she went to his room to fix his television.
In another email exchange with Hyder, she reportedly wrote, "Hail Mary full of grace give me the strength to not go to his room to fix his television."
