A 15-year-old girl falsely reported a sexual assault.

Thursday, October 21, 1999

A 15-year-old girl falsely reported a sexual assault. Her story was so believable and her descriptions of her alleged assailant so detailed that a suspect surfaced in the investigation.

Then, she said it was all a lie and that she concocted the story to cover up possibly being pregnant with a boyfriend’s child.

The criminal justice system decides not to charge her, but instead requires an apology.

Was justice served? Mower County Attorney Patrick A. Oman thinks so and he says it is what the public wanted.

According to Oman, the Mower County Attorney’s Office received several calls from people inquiring as to what the disposition of the case would be.

"The calls were unanimous in urging that a juvenile petition not be filed," he said. "Since the overall purpose and goal of the juvenile justice system is primarily to give a juvenile the chance to make amends for misdeeds, it was felt that these timely actions on the part of the juvenile achieved the goals of the juvenile justice system without the necessity of further legal proceedings and would have been what the court would have ultimately ordered if a petition had been filed."

On Wednesday, local media published the Ostrander teenager’s letter of apology. Another letter was sent to the male student at Pacelli High School, whom her description matched.

In addition, the teenager was required to make a face-to-face apology to Greg Hereford, Pacelli’s principal.

The incident began Oct. 7, after the girl and her LeRoy-Ostrander High School volleyball team arrived at PHS in Austin. Later that same evening, the teenager told her parents, she was raped in a basement storeroom at PHS by a male assailant.

Austin police launched their investigation when the girl’s parents contacted authorities. Using the description given by the teenager, detectives interviewed suspects, including one male PHS student who closely matched the girl’s description of her assailant.

Then, just 72 hours after the incident was reported, the teenager recanted her story, saying it was all false.

When Austin Police Chief Paul M. Philipp told reporters of the agreement not to charge the teenager, but to allow her to apologize, he expressed disappointment, saying it is difficult enough to get victims of sexual assaults to report the crimes let alone have an alleged victim concoct a story. He told reporters he worries that the false story will inhibit other victims from coming forward.

According to the county attorney, in this incident, an apology, not punishment, suited the crime.

"After a review of the juvenile case, consultations with David Schafer, the lead investigating detective, and consultations with Pacelli High School Principal Greg Hereford, this office has decided that it will not file a juvenile delinquency petition against the 15-year old girl who falsely alleged that a sexual assault took place at Pacelli High School," Oman announced.

"The conditions for not filing the petition were submitted to the girl and her parents and have now been met."

Oman said the response of the community to the circumstances and situation could not have been better.

"On a personal note, I have been impressed with the overall response to this situation on the part of this community," he said. "It is always easy to take an attitude of forceful prosecution, but is more difficult to reflect and adopt an attitude of reconciliation and forgiveness. All of the people I spoken to regarding this incident have expressed concern and hope that the girl involved and her family find the strength to work their way through whatever problems that led to this incident."

The county attorney also said the criminal justice system does not take lightly such incidents, which use valuable police resources to false ends.

"Regardless of the disposition of this particular case, this office again wishes to emphasize to the community that irresponsible behavior, regardless of its motivation, can have far-reaching and unintended consequences," Oman said. "Law enforcement officers responded immediately and put in a great amount of effort to clear the case."

The toll was also felt on a personal level, disrupting the lives of a possible suspect and his family.

"An innocent young man, who would have been eventually been cleared through the use of DNA testing, was put through a great deal of anguish, as was his family," Oman said. "The reputation of Pacelli High School, a school with a fine reputation for keeping its guests and students safe, was put at risk. The whole Austin community was justifiably concerned that a violent sex offender may have been loose in its midst. Finally, the veracity of others who actually have been sexually abused was called into question."

Oman said the case is considered closed.

"In summary, we believe that the aims and goals of the juvenile justice system have been served by this disposition and by the remedial actions already taken by the juvenile in this situation," the county attorney said. "Unless there are further law violations by the juvenile in question, the case will be considered closed."