Smithtown lacrosse player cleared of sex charge

Charges of sexual assault against three Sacred Heart University lacrosse players - including one from Smithtown - have been dropped.

John Robert Gulash, attorney for Nicholas Travers, 19, of Smithtown, Thursday confirmed the dismissal of the charge in Superior Court in Bridgeport, Conn., on Wednesday.

Besides Travers, Timothy Sanders, 19, of Ashburn, Va., and Zachari Triner, 18, of Mansfield, Mass., were charged with conspiracy to commit first-degree sexual assault stemming from a Nov. 22 incident in a university dorm room.

Gulash said charges against Triner and Sanders were nolled. In a nolle prosequi, if the state decides not to reprosecute within 13 months, he said, charges are automatically dismissed. In Travers' case, Gulash said charges were dismissed immediately because further investigation by the prosecution supported evidence that Travers was not in the room during the incident.

Travers, however, apologized in court to the woman for what she went through, Gulash said. "He's happy it's behind him and hopes to continue playing lacrosse," Gulash said.

According to records, Sanders was having consensual sex with a woman when he held her down and called for his two teammates. The original police report charged that the other two players then assaulted her.

Gulash said the school conducted its own internal investigation and that Travers was allowed to finish his semester course work though he was not allowed on campus. He returned to school in January, Gulash added, and is back in campus housing.University spokeswoman Funda Alp said the school's internal investigation had been resolved and confirmed that the students had been sanctioned and were back in class.

Travers and Sanders have been reinstated to the lacrosse team, said Gene Gumbs, a spokesman for the athletic department. Triner remains on indefinite suspension, Gumbs said, for issues unrelated to the assault charges.

With Matthew Chayes

CORRECTION

Nicholas Travers of Smithtown was cleared of a sex assault charge in Connecticut earlier this month because the investigation could not even place him in the dormitory room at the time and the “case was weak all around,” according to a Connecticut state prosecutor. A headline in a Feb. 19 story gave the incorrect reason the charge was dropped, and one reference in the story was unclear.