A concocted story of a brazen midday rape and kidnapping in Oakdale not only took detectives' time away from other cases but can be damaging to actual victims of sexual assault, officials say.
"It is very upsetting when something like that happens because it really does take away the creditability of legitimate victim," said Belinda Rolicheck, executive director of Haven Women's Center.
A 16-year-old girl told Oakdale police in mid-June that she had been abducted by a man in his 40s while she was walking home from summer school. She said the man in question threatened her with a knife near the high school, forced her into a truck and drove her beyond the city limit, where he raped her.
Tuesday, during her third interview with detectives, the girl admitted she fabricated the story. Detectives had questioned an unrealistic time line of events, holes in her story and the absence of corroborative evidence.
Authorities say there are a number of reasons people lie about being raped, including revenge, attempting to avoid getting in trouble for something else, or a desperate need for attention. The latter was the excuse given by the Oakdale girl, as well as a 32-year-old Turlock woman last year.
The Turlock woman went as far as taking off her clothes and binding her hands and legs in the basement of a vacant home before calling for help until someone found her. She told police two men had sexually assaulted her, but she recanted her story the next day.
These false reports are rare, however, Rolicheck said, and are a far cry from the number of unreported sexual assaults.
One of the primary reasons sexual-assault victims fail to report the crimes is because they fear people won't believe them, Rolicheck said.
"There are true victims out there and it brings question to (their) allegations," Modesto police Lt. Rick Armendariz said about false reports.
He said public perception can be altered of the crime that already is often prosecuted as the victim's word against the accused. And after investing hours on a crime that didn't happen, detectives could become more cynical.
"Cops see so much every single day," Rolicheck said. "There is so much that can and does make them jaded and it is a frustration that comes into something like that."
Oakdale police Detective Brian Shimmel estimates he and his partners spent about 200 hours investigating the teenage girl's story.
Shimmel spent about six hour in the hospital with her the first night when a rape kit was completed and DNA was sent to the Department of Justice. Evidence processing of the rape kit has since been canceled. Officers followed numerous leads from tip lines and responding to sightings of the type of truck the girl said was used in her kidnapping.
Rightfully so, accusations of a kidnapping and rape were treated very seriously and members of the community were put on alert.
Speaking to the early days of the Oakdale case and in general about cases that have a ring of falsehood to them, Shimmel said, "We are still going to work it. We have to, even if there were parts of the story that don't add up in the beginning, until there are no credible leads."
Bee staff writer Erin Tracy can be reached at etracy@modbee.com or (209)578-2366.
RSS
E-Mail
Print
Order reprints
