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Tennis players coerced to crack
by Kirk Amos
November 03, 2005
Two C of C tennis players, Priscilla Roberts, 19, and Bastian Moldehnke, 23, returned to their car on Oct. 22 unaware that one crack cocaine addict had a new and more forceful method of pushing his product.
According to police reports, the two C of C students were held up at knife-point, abducted, taken to an undisclosed location on Mary Street and forced to smoke crack cocaine.
Students may have heard a similar story in rumors circulating the campus.
“All the teammates are talking about it,” said senior tennis player Seth Bowman. Although the subject makes for popular chat all over campus, the general consensus is “we don’t really know anything.”
Like many college stories, the Saturday night of the abduction began with the students consuming large amounts of alcohol, with an estimated 30 alcoholic beverages for Moldehnke, and 20 for Roberts.
Drunken and tired, the couple found themselves locked out of Roberts’ Lexus in a parking lot off of Meeting Street.
At around 2 a.m., Roberts and Moldehnke attempted to unlock the car with a clothes hanger. They were approached by a seemingly friendly man who at first offered to open the door for $10. Instead, he pulled out a knife.
The aggressor, a lonely criminal, demanded only their company. The students stayed with him from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m., spending most of the time in front of a white house on Mary Street. It was there that the man allegedly forced them to smoke crack.
When daylight rolled around, Roberts remembered that she stored an extra key for her Lexus at her apartment, so the students left their abductor, retrieved the key and drove to Moldehnke’s apartment on Burns Lane.
The next morning, Oct. 23, the students began worrying about being submitted to a random drug test, and decided to call the women’s tennis coach, Angelo Anastopoulo, which initiated a chain of phone calls.
Anastopoulo called C of C athletics director, Jerry Baker, who contacted Public Safety, which led to notification of the Charleston Police Department.
The athletics department did give random drug tests this week, according to Baker, but Moldehnke and Roberts would have had no premonition of it.
“The only thing that they would have known was about tennis practice that morning,” said Baker.
While waiting for the coach the morning after the alleged event, Roberts took a walk down King Street and allegedly bumped into the perpetrator and was forced to smoke crack cocaine again.
According to the Post and Courier, Roberts “became apprehensive” about filing a police report, but Moldehnke “insisted on going through with the process.”
The cops described them as “smelling strongly of alcohol,” and as giving “few details about the suspect despite allegedly spending several hours with him. They were also “nervous and evasive in their answers.” The police are still investigating; results won’t be made public until a later time.
Roberts has left the College and returned to her hometown of Peachtree, Ga. She is reportedly enrolled in a 30-day rehabilitative clinic for undisclosed reasons. Her family refused to comment.
Baker had little to say about the police investigation.
“We don’t get involved with the police. We’ll take the appropriate action following the results,” he said. Baker also said, “They’re great kids. They are successful in school and nice to talk with.” Other faculty members agree.
Roberts is a talented freshman, coming to the College after being ranked no. 7 in the South and no. 43 in the nation for both 18-and-under and 16-and-under divisions. Her past accomplishments include winning both the Clemson and Montgomery Designated Tournaments in the 16-and-under, the Southern Doubles Tournament for ages 14, 16 and 18-and-under and playing number one singles for McIntosh High School for four years. She has held a 3.8 GPA at C of C.
Moldehenke, a scholarship athlete whose 2005 singles standing reads 7-3, hails from Germany. He also declined comment.
