Roethlisberger case will not be moved from Reno to Douglas County

A Nevada judge on Wednesday denied a motion to move the civil sexual assault case against Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger from Reno to Douglas County. Eight former or current employees of Lake Tahoe casino were also engaged in the case.


Washoe District Judge Brent Adams in Reno ruled that one of the named defendants, Harrah’s Lake Tahoe executive Dave Monroe, has residences in both Douglas and Washoe counties and therefore Washoe County is a proper venue for the case to be heard.

The woman, who accused the two-time Super Bowl winner of raping, was a 31-year-old Harrah’s VIP hostess and alleged that Roethlisberger raped her in his penthouse suite in July 2008 during a celebrity golf tournament. She also alleges eight former or current Harrah’s employees, including Monroe, Harrah’s President John Koster and security chief Guy Hyder, orchestrated a cover-up of the incident.

However, lawyers for the defendants said that the woman was just seeking money. She failed to report the incident to police in time but filed the suit a year later. They also said that the woman was mentally unstable. Advocates for sexual assault victims explained that the woman failed to report incidents to police because she was hospitalized on numerous occasions with the trauma suffered in the alleged attack.

Former Harrah’s employee filed a motion to dismiss Roethlisberger suit

Stacy Dingman, a former Harrah’s employee, said she was formerly the best friend of the woman who claimed Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger raped her during a celebrity golf tournament in July 2008. And she has filed a motion to dismiss the Roethlisberger suit because she did not want to be “unjustifiably dragged into this baseless lawsuit.”


Dingman used to work as director of hotels at Harrah’s and was among the nine defendants named in the lawsuit filed last month in Washoe County District Court. The woman who sued Roethlisberger said the nine defendants conspired to cover up the alleged incident because Roethlisberger is friends with John Koster, one of the nine and president of Harrah’s northern Nevada operations.

However, in the motion filed Monday, a Reno lawyer representing Dingman said that there is no evidence or witnesses to support any of the allegations in the lawsuit because the woman did not do anything to report the alleged incident right after the incident but claimed sexual assault a year after it occurred.