CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Nov. 8, 2005) -- A fugitive arrest warrant was issued for a Carolina Panthers cheerleader who allegedly gave a false name during her arrest at a bar where witnesses said she had sex with another cheerleader in a restroom stall.
Renee Thomas was charged with giving a false name and causing harm to another, a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of up to five years, Tampa police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.
Thomas, 20, was released before police learned she had given them a driver's license belonging to another Panthers cheerleader, who was not in Tampa.
"She was bonded out on the false name she gave us," McElroy said, adding that detectives are trying to determine how Thomas got the license.
McElroy said witness accounts that Thomas and fellow cheerleader Angela Keathley were having sex with each other in a bathroom stall "led to the commotion, but they have nothing to do with the charges."
"The charge is that she (Thomas) punched someone in the face and then she chose to give police a fake ID," she said.
Keathley was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.
Repeated attempts to reach the women were unsuccessful.
The cheerleaders were not in town to perform at the game, and the team said both were fired from the TopCats squad for violating a signed code that bans conduct embarrassing to the Panthers.
