Woman drops rape claim against David Copperfield

SEATTLE - A woman who accused David Copperfield of luring her to his private island in the Bahamas and raping her - and who was later charged with fabricating sexual-assault claims against another man - dropped her federal lawsuit against the magician yesterday.

Attorneys for model and waitress Lacey Carroll announced her decision in a news release, just days after a federal judge ruled that Copperfield's attorneys would be allowed to question her under oath this week.

"It has never been about money," Carroll said in the statement. "I just wanted him held accountable for what he did."

Carroll claimed Copperfield had pulled her out of the crowd during a show in Kennewick, in southeastern Washington. She was later invited to visit his island in July 2007. The trip was supposed to lead to possible modeling gigs doing promotional materials for Copperfield, she claimed, but said Copperfield forced her to perform sex acts instead.

The FBI spent more than two years investigating the allegations and even searched Copperfield's Las Vegas warehouse but closed the case early this year without filing charges or explaining the decision.

Carroll filed her suit in Seattle last July.

Copperfield's Seattle lawyer, Angelo Calfo, said the suit "was nothing but a pathetic attempt to extort Mr. Copperfield for money . . . . "Mr. Copperfield would not and did not pay Carroll a dime to drop her lawsuit."

Calfo said his client was vindicated when Carroll was charged with making a false sexual-assault claim against another man in Bellevue, Wash., late last year.

In that case, police said, Carroll told police she may have been drugged and woke up in a hotel room to find the man atop her.

As Carroll left the hotel room and began telling hotel staff she had been taken advantage of, the man called police and reported that he was being extorted, according to Bellevue Police Department records. Carroll had left the room and made up the story after he refused to pay her $2,000 for sex, he said.

A woman who was with the pair earlier in the night said Carroll had been sexually aggressive with the man, and hotel-surveillance video showed them hugging and kissing in the lobby, police said.

Carroll had sought to delay her deposition in the civil case until the Bellevue criminal matter is resolved. She argued that she might be forced to give statements in violation of her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Carroll has pleaded not guilty to charges of prostitution and filing a false police report in the Bellevue case.