RODMAN ordered to pay $225,000 to actress-model

<br>SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) _ A court-appointed arbitrator awarded an actress-model $225,000 in her civil lawsuit claiming that former NBA player Dennis Rodman raped her. <br><br>The arbitrator's award

Saturday, July 21st 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) _ A court-appointed arbitrator awarded an actress-model $225,000 in her civil lawsuit claiming that former NBA player Dennis Rodman raped her.

The arbitrator's award to Tina New on Thursday is non-binding. Her lawyer, Stephan Tornay, said he expects Rodman will exercise his right to ask for a trial, but Rodman could not be reached for comment Thursday night.

``I don't even know the girl. I have nothing to do with her,'' the 40-year-old Rodman, who played college ball at Southeastern Oklahoma, told the Orange County Register in an article that appeared in Friday's editions.

A Superior Court judge, who had appointed a lawyer as the arbitrator, ordered a hearing for July 27.

New sued Rodman for $10 million last August. She claims she met Rodman in August 1999 at a Newport Beach bar, and that she turned down an invitation to a party from a man who said he was Rodman's bodyguard.

According to New's lawsuit, after she left the bar, someone kidnapped her and took her to Rodman's Newport Beach home, where she was forced to drink an unknown liquid that caused her to fall asleep.

She claims that when she awoke, Rodman ripped off her clothing and raped her.

New said she went to Newport Beach police 10 days after the alleged rape, but detectives were unable to find any physical evidence. A district attorney's spokeswoman said no charges will be filed unless prosecutors receive evidence of a crime.