Former NFL pro and "Dancing With the Stars" contestant Lawrence Taylor has averted jail time in his rape case, receiving six years probation after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors, the Rockland County, N.Y. District Attorney's Office announced on Tuesday.
Taylor, 52, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual misconduct and one count of patronizing a prostitute in the third degree, both class "A" misdemeanors. Taylor will also be required to register as a sex offender as a result of the plea deal.
Taylor, who participated in season eight of "Dancing With the Stars," had been charged with third-degree statutory rape, for allegedly having sex with an underage girl, then 16, in a Montebello, N.Y., Holiday Inn on May 6, 2010.
Taylor was accused of offering the teenage girl $300 in exchange for sexual favors.
The victim told investigators that she had been threatened, physically assaulted and brought to the hotel room by another individual.
Rockland County district attorney Thomas P. Zugibe said that he hoped Taylor's sentence and sex-offender registration would "have a chilling effect on individuals who fuel the demand for commercial sex."
Gloria Allred, the attorney for the victim, said in a statement that she was "appalled" by Taylor's plea deal.
Allred further took exception to the charge of patronizing a prostitute since, according to her client's testimony, she only went to Taylor's hotel room after being physically assaulted, and out of fear of further abuse.
"In sum, she was not a prostitute. She was a terrified young girl.," Allred said. "It is a disgrace that she should be labeled as a prostitute when she is and was a crime victim who was forced into becoming a victim of a crime."
Allred added that "the system has failed this victim by providing the perpetrator of the crime against her with a light sentence."
