DURHAM, North Carolina — A co-captain of Duke University’s lacrosse team was indicted Monday, the third player accused of taking part in the alleged rape of an exotic dancer at an off-campus team party.

David Evans, [pictured] a 23-year-old senior from Bethesda, Maryland, was charged with first-degree forcible rape, first-degree sexual offense and first degree kidnapping.

Evans became the first accused player to speak out, vehemently proclaiming his and his teammates’ innocence as he turned himself in Monday afternoon. His lawyer said he expected Evans to be released on bond.

Speaking to reporters while surrounded by about a dozen supportive senior Duke lacrosse players, Evans said, “I am absolutely innocent of the charges brought against me.

“These allegations are lies. Fabricated. And they will be proven wrong,” Evans stated.

He told reporters he cooperated with police when the allegations first surfaced, telling investigators the truth because he had done nothing wrong and nothing to fear.

“It did not happen,” he said. “I will be acquitted of all these charges because I have done nothing wrong and I have told the truth. I have told the truth from day one.”

Evans, who lived in the house where the party was held the night of March 13-14, said he had passed a polygraph test given by an FBI expert hired by his attorneys.

He said two teammates that already have been charged were also innocent.

Sophomores Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, New York, and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, New Jersey, were arrested last month on the same charges and were released on bail.

“I am innocent. Reade Seligmann is innocent. Collin Finnerty is innocent. Every member of the Duke lacrosse team is innocent,” Evans said. “You have all been told some fantastic lies.”

The charges stem from an investigation of allegations by a female student at nearby North Carolina Central University who was hired as a dancer at the team party.

She is black, and the students she accuses are white and from privileged backgrounds.

The case led Duke to cancel what likely would have been a championship season for its lacrosse team. It also inflamed divisions of race and class, led to protests, and heightened tensions between the university and its neighbors.

The players’ attorneys have mounted a strenuous defense in the court of public opinion — challenging the evidence, the motives of the prosecutor, and the credibility of the woman making the allegations.

The attorneys claim they can prove neither Seligmann nor Finnerty were at the party at the time the rape was alleged to have occurred.

Joe Cheshire, Evans’ lawyer, said Monday the Duke players and their families are victims of a false accuser.

Cheshire pointed out that she identified Evans with “90 percent certainty” in an “unconstitutional” photo lineup, adding that she would be 100 percent sure if he had a mustache.

Evans, he said, “has never had a mustache.”

On Friday, Cheshire announced that a second round of DNA testing showed “no conclusive match” between Duke lacrosse players and the alleged victim.

He acknowledged Monday that the fingernail tests did not exclude his client, but called such evidence flimsy.

Cheshire also said the latest DNA report indicated “that, yes, this lady had sex … but she did not have sex with any Duke lacrosse player.”

An initial round of DNA testing showed no match between the 27-year-old accuser and any of the 46 members of the Duke lacrosse team.

Both Evans and his lawyer accused prosecutors of turning a deaf ear to evidence that could clear the student. They were last rebuffed on Monday morning, they said.

Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong has not commented.

The Associated Press reported that Evans had previously been cited for a noise ordinance violation and alcohol possession.

By hosting the party, prosecutors contended, Evans violated the terms of an agreement that would have led to dismissal of the charges, the AP reported.

A judge reinstated the alcohol charge, Evans’ attorney entered a plea on his behalf, and Evans was fined $100, the AP said.

Evans was among the lacrosse team seniors who graduated Sunday, the AP reported. Several students at the ceremony wore Seligmann’s and Finnerty’s jersey numbers on their mortarboard caps, according to the AP.