BY BETH VELLIQUETTE

bvelliquette@heraldsun.com; 918-1042

HILLSBOROUGH -- The kidnapping, robbery and sexual assault case in which three UNC football players were tied up and robbed in December 2007 ended quietly Tuesday in Orange County Superior Court when one of the suspects pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors and received probation.

Monique Jenice Taylor, 30, who was originally charged with first-degree kidnapping, felony conspiracy, sexual battery and resisting a police officer, pleaded guilty to one count of false imprisonment and one count of resist delay and obstruct a law enforcement officer in a plea agreement.

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway sentenced Taylor, who lives in Greenville, to 30 days in prison, but he suspended the sentence and put her on supervised probation for 12 months. He also told her if she performs 120 hours of community service within four months, she will not have to pay court costs or the attorney's fees. She quickly agreed.

The strange tale of how two women and a small man allegedly bound and robbed three huge football players caught the attention of people across the country. One of the players testified in a previous hearing that the three players had been drinking in downtown Chapel Hill, and two of them got separated from the third player.

When the two arrived home, one player went to bed while the other ventured further into the apartment, where he was greeted by a naked stranger with a knife, who told him to come into the bedroom to see what was going on.

The player saw the other football player, who had been with them earlier in the night, and a woman on the bed. He previously testified that Taylor immediately approached him and began taking his shirt off, and she pushed him down on the bed and began fondling him.

As the two women allegedly distracted the two players, the stranger, Michael Troy Lewis, began gathering up items in the apartment to steal.

The football player alone in the other bedroom, who was pretending to be asleep, saw and heard Lewis gathering up items to steal, and secretly called 911 saying they were being robbed. After he called 911, Lewis tied that player up with a shoestring.

Police arrested the two women and later arrested Lewis.

The first football player to become involved with the trio did not appear in court for a probable cause hearing, so the charges were dismissed against the woman he was with.

During a trial in November 2008, a jury found Lewis guilty of two counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of common law robbery, felony conspiracy and attempted felony larceny.

Lewis was sentenced to 23 years and nine months to nearly 31 years in prison.

Taylor was supposed to stand trial for her charges, but the football player she had been with that night indicated he wanted to be done with the case and didn't want to come back and testify again, said Assistant District Attorney Morgan Whitney.

None of the three players was in the courtroom Tuesday.

Taylor's attorney, Glenn Gerding, told the judge that Taylor was not part of a plan to rob the players. She had come from Greenville to visit the other woman in Durham. The other woman was friends with Lewis, and the three of them decided to go to Chapel Hill, Gerding said.

"Once they came back to the apartment, from all appearances everything seemed to be consensual," Gerding said. "The real bad actor in this is Mr. Lewis. There's no question that Lewis robbed the person in the bedroom. She didn't know about it."

Whitney agreed with Gerding that Lewis was the "bad guy" but reminded the court that during Lewis' trial, a jury found Lewis guilty of kidnapping the football player that Taylor was with based on the testimony that Taylor tied him up and Lewis threatened him with a knife.

Gerding told the judge that Taylor has made a significant change in her lifestyle and has stopped drinking, Gerding said.

As the hearing ended, Taylor, as well as her parents, who were in the courtroom with her, began to cry.

Taylor asked the judge if she could speak and he said yes.

"I would like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to correct a mistake I made," she said. "I just want to thank God and my family there for your mercy."