HILLSBOROUGH - Chapel Hill police have charged two women with sexually assaulting three UNC-Chapel Hill football players, according to police and arrest warrants. A man also was charged with trying to rob the players during the weekend incident.

The players didn't suffer physical injuries, but police found two of them wearing boxer shorts and bound with tape. Police said the men told them they had been fondled against their will early Sunday morning. The News & Observer typically does not identify complainants in sexual assault cases.

The arrested are Tnika Monta Washington, 29, of Durham, Monique Jenice Taylor, 28, of Greenville and Michael Troy Lewis, 32, of Durham.

Bail for all three was set initially at $500,000, but Washington's and Taylor's bails were reduced Thursday to $50,000. Lewis' remained at $500,000.

Taylor was charged with resisting a public officer, three counts of first-degree kidnapping, three counts of felony conspiracy, and three counts of first-degree sex offense. Washington's charges were the same, but included just one count of first-degree sex offense, according to court records.

Lewis was charged with three counts each of kidnapping, conspiracy, and attempted felony larceny, and two counts each of robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault on a government official, and one count of resisting an officer.

An account of events

During a bail hearing Thursday afternoon, Assistant District Attorney Morgan Whitney gave some details of the evening, but stressed that the information was a preliminary report based on one officer's notes. He said he was expecting more information as the investigation continues.

Whitney said the three players went to a couple of downtown Chapel Hill bars to celebrate one of their birthdays. They met Washington, Taylor and Lewis, who gave the players a ride home, according to police and attorneys for the accused. Then the players invited the three up to the apartment.

One of the players was very drunk and was taken to lie down, according to a police report that Whitney cited.

The other two apparently had some consensual sexual contact with the women, but became uncomfortable and wanted to stop, Whitney said. At some point the players' hands were bound with tape, Chapel Hill police said in a news release.

One of the players called 911, and police arrived about 3:30 a.m., finding two of the men in their boxers. The third player was clothed, Whitney said.

One player said when he asked a woman to stop touching him, both Taylor and Washington began punching him in the head, Whitney said.

In one account given in court Thursday, one player said Lewis stood naked with a butcher knife at his neck, that the player's pants were pulled off and that someone tried to tie his hands with a belt.

When the player protested, Lewis told him "he needed to chill out," Whitney said. Lewis pressed the knife closer to his neck while Taylor fondled him, Whitney said.

Defense attorneys Susan Seahorn and Glenn Gerding both said the sexual activity appeared to have been consensual.

Allegation of biting

Lewis is accused of taking the contents of two wallets valued at $100, and trying to take $3,000 worth of computer and entertainment equipment. He is accused also of biting a police officer in the groin and pushing him down stairs to elude arrest Sunday, according to arrest warrants.

Seahorn, who represents Washington, said her client has five children and is married but separated from a man who is in the Marines.

Gerding said his client, Taylor, is from Pitt County and that her father is a retired sergeant in the Marines.

Both appeared in court via closed-circuit television from jail.

When Taylor heard that her bail had been reduced to $50,000, she said, "Oh, thank you, Jesus."

In a news release, UNC-CH football coach Butch Davis said, "I am relieved that the players were not injured. We will assist them in any way we can."

The players' status with the team has not changed, according to a team spokesman.

Attempts to reach the players and their parents were unsuccessful Thursday evening.

(Staff writers Robbi Pickeral and Sam Spies and news researcher Becky Ogburn contributed to this report.)