The Hofstra University co-ed who accused a fellow student and four of his pals of gang-raping her in a campus dorm stunningly recanted her claim last night, and the four suspects were sprung from jail just before 10:30 p.m.
“Late [last night] . . . the alleged victim of the sexual assault admitted that the encounter that took place early Sunday morning was consensual,” said Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice.
“I have launched an immediate criminal investigation into the statements and reports given by the woman in connection with this incident.”
“Innocent until proven guilty!” shouted an elated Kevin Taveras, 20, a Cablevision worker from Brentwood, LI, after walking out of jail.
“I’m so happy. I’m glad to be going home.”
His 19-year-old stepbrother, Stalin Felipe, who was also accused, said that although he was “very happy the truth came out, I’m still embarrassed.”
“We were in jail for over 22 hours, and we had to sit there and see our names on TV blurted out calling me a rapist,” he said.
“I have no comment for that girl.”
The four were arrested after 18-year-old freshman Danmell Ndonye made her ugly, false accusation. The fifth innocent person she accused was never arrested and his name was not released.
Taveras and Felipe, along with Hofstra senior Rondell Bedward, 21, and Jesus Ortiz, 19, had been charged with first-degree rape. They’d been held in lieu of $500,000 bail each, and faced 25 years in prison if convicted.
At least one of them had received a death threat through his lawyer.
“I got a call from a blocked number saying I should keep my f- – -ing client off the campus. He’s a dead man,” said Taveras’ lawyer, Victor Daly-Rivera.
Taveras, a student at Suffolk Community College, said, “I am very disappointed that she made up all those lies about us, and quite frankly, I don’t even know her name.”
A source said that surveillance video failed to back up Ndonye’s original story.
She had told investigators that at around 3 a.m. Sunday, while at a frat party in an on-campus club at the Hempstead university, Ortiz had taken her cellphone .
She claimed that she followed him and his friends home to retrieve her phone, and rode the elevator with him to the 11th floor of Estabrook Hall.
There, she said, Felipe made advances on her, which she claimed she resisted.
She accused the five men of forcing her into a bathroom stall, tying her up and taking turns sexually assaulting her.
Bedward, in addition to being busted, was banned from campus and suspended.
“I want to let whatever happened in the past be the past, and I am looking forward to getting my life back together,” Bedward said through tears last night.
His birthday is Saturday.
His furious mom, Mae Edwards, said, “He was wrongly accused by that young lady, who almost destroyed his life.”
She said she hopes to “file charges. He almost had his degree taken away.”
Bedward, a Bronx native, is a speech-communication and rhetorical-studies major who graduated from the Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice in 2006.
Ortiz and Bedward adamantly denied having sex with Ndonye.
“I was so embarrassed and I am so upset,” Ortiz said. “I have a great girlfriend at home. Why would I do something like this to another person?”
Fellow students were outraged at Ndonye.
“This is ridiculous,” said senior Cyassandra Frith, 21.
“She should be charged — she destroyed four people’s lives.”
Felipe, who is also a college student, was just looking forward to going home and taking a shower.
“It feels good to be out,” he said.
Ndonye’s relatives had security guards at their building shoo away reporters.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Lukas I. Alpert