Deseret News | Reader comments: Clearfield police say teen lied about church rape

Reader comments
Clearfield police say teen lied about church rape

Mahonri | 11:38 a.m. June 27, 2008

With crap like this happening why would one believe any story of a rape without major injury to back it up?

Anonymous | 11:49 a.m. June 27, 2008

Why waste the police officers time? There are real crimes being committed and this child took them away from helping any real victims. That is truly sadï¿½Your personal life is not a good enough excuse for making something like this up.

I was raped. It is hard enough to live with the memories of that horrific event without seeing reports of it happening to another innocent girl. This is so selfish and wrong.

FrankO | 11:50 a.m. June 27, 2008

I hope she receives the help she is seeking.

Comments continue below

Interesting | 11:52 a.m. June 27, 2008

From past stories like this: it usually means the girl had sex, thought she might get pregnant, and then "covers it up" with a story like that. Too bad for all the man-hours that went in to trying to solve the "crime."

Sick and Tired | 11:51 a.m. June 27, 2008

Davis County should throw the maximum penalty at her for her actions. This should include a mental evaluation and community service hours and repayment of the police offices staff that spent time on this investigation.

We have enough of this type of action that is the real stuff and the Police department should not waste their time of a total false report. After all what would have happened if the police found a very innocent person coming close to matching the description and was pulled in for questioning?

Hard Time for Serious Lies | 12:23 p.m. June 27, 2008

I hope she is locked up for what she has done. They need to make an example out of this person to let other teenagers know that "crying rape" is not something you can throw around and make light of. Just because you are having a "hard time" or broke up with your boyfriend does not mean you should lie about something this serious to bring yourself attention.

Anonymous | 1:17 p.m. June 27, 2008

I don't think she needs to be locked up or have teh maximum penalty given to her. Mainly because there was no one specifically set apart as a suspect. It think it would be different if she had said "so and so" did it and the police had to investigate that person.

With an anonymous/non-existant attacker I think she needs help more than anything

orion | 2:27 p.m. June 27, 2008

Why would anyone want to punish a girl who is obviously in need of therapy/legal help? I would guess there are issues we have no idea of knowing in this young person's life.

When looking into a house, you only see what is there through the front window. No one knows what goes on in the other rooms where no one can see.....

Leo | 2:33 p.m. June 27, 2008

The saddest part is that such an incident may scare girls, who have been raped, to report it. They may think they will not be believed, be interrogated as possible liars, etc. And perhaps end up in court for false reporting. How do you send a strong message to counter that? Not by accusing this one girl of having committed a crime and requesting severe penalty. Sad to see commenters here pushing in that direction.

RE:Orion | 2:36 p.m. June 27, 2008

Because IT'S AGAINST THE LAW to place a false report. We read in the news about people filing false reports and they are charged and sentenced accordingly. Why would she be the exception? And yes, I have a daughter and if she does it..."sorry honey, but you have to pay the consequences".

Her parents can go ahead, give her the so called therapy/legal help, and resolve whatever issues in her life.

If this girl had never been raped or abused, then I honestly think the girl needs a reality check.

Re: orion | 2:54 p.m. June 27, 2008

"Why would anyone want to punish a girl who is obviously in need of therapy/legal help?"

Would you argue the same thing for Wanda Barzee or Brian David Mitchell? They clearly need "help", but should they not be punished?

And if she had... | 3:38 p.m. June 27, 2008

actually named an "innocent" victim...that would have been worse. Not only did she waste tax payers money, pull police from working on cases that were critical of attention, she lied, she could have also ruined an innocent persons life because of her deceit.

No doubt she needs help...badly.

No...people cannot see what goes on behind closed doors...but you know...people tell pretty much about the kind of people they are by doing things like this. She broke the law...she needs to serve the time that fits the crime.

If she is old enough to drive...she knows right from wrong.

Quit giving an excuse for every ignorant thing a person does. Yeah...love them enough to teach them and make them pay the consequences, but quite letting them off the hook with your words...that's why this country is in so much trouble anyway...people are not teaching their kids responsibility...you are dishonest...it gets you no where fast!

George E. Brown | 3:39 p.m. June 27, 2008

Let's get this young woman some help, supervise her for a while on probation to make sure she is working on her issues and then send her down the road. Sometimes when people getoverwhelmed by life it comes out in unusual ways. It may be best to consider it a cry for help. It seems obvious she needs some counseling, and it would help to keep her and her family in our prayers.

Have a great day.

Jason | 3:42 p.m. June 27, 2008

She needs to pay for what she has done. There are too many innocent Men in Prison being raped by other Prisoners because they were falsely accused of such a crime. The message needs to get out that you should never, never, falsely accuse anyone. I say throw the book at her.

Dog | 3:47 p.m. June 27, 2008

Re: Otion

Get real! What if someone was arrested because they resembled the sketch?

Innocent people are incarcerated over just such claims. Especially if a child was the "victim." it is always, always guilty first to the "pervert" then maybe, begrudgingly, with a ton of offsetting evidence and a "we're gonna watch you" by the authorities the entirely innocence person is let free. This is especially true for one of "color."

She should get more than a slap on the wrist!

Conejo | 3:48 p.m. June 27, 2008

True, the girl didn't identify a particular person but there are plenty of people out there that would fit the description. How would you like to live around there, fit the description, and not have a solid alibi for the time period? Talk about going to extremes just to get out of church. Geez!

suzyk | 4:21 p.m. June 27, 2008

If something isn't done to help her realize the seriousness of this allegation she will do it again and others may also try it. There needs to be some sort of consequence or she has learned nothing and it has cost tax payers and valuable time for the police department for a bogus claim. Yes, she does need to be taught and she also needs some serious help.

orion | 5:18 p.m. June 27, 2008

I sure am relieved none of you "punishers" are going to be the ones to judge my actions as I move from this life into the next.

You ought to be relieved those of your ilk won't either.

Mel | 6:19 p.m. June 27, 2008

Just because someone "needs help" (and I truly believe this young lady does) does not mean that they are absolved from taking any responsibility for their actions. Part of this young lady's therapy should include owning up and accepting the consequences that are a natural result of her actions. That's life. The sooner she realizes that, the better off she'll be.

Let the trial begin | 6:44 p.m. June 27, 2008

Is there any real evidence that the girls story was the result of fabrication or is this claim based on the girl recanting as a result of police harassment and intimidation? After being harassed and accused of lying I would also recant and say I made it up just to make them go away but now that the girl is going on trial we may find out that she didn't intend to recant and that the police used strong-armed tactics to intimidate her into doing so.

I hope her rapist will be brought to justice someday but I suspect that won't happen now that the police want to cover their tracts and save face and not be seen as being incapable of doing their job and even catching one rapist.

Andrea | 7:07 p.m. June 27, 2008

Thanks, Orion, for your thoughts. I really appreciate reading genuinely thoughtful, non-judgmental responses. It's disturbing to hear how awful people can be sometimes.

Infuriated! | 11:27 p.m. June 27, 2008

Dear Re: orion | 2:54 p.m. June 27, 2008
"Why would anyone want to punish a girl who is obviously in need of therapy/legal help?" "Would you argue the same thing for Wanda Barzee or Brian David Mitchell? They clearly need "help", but should they not be punished?"

ABSOLUTELY!

Full and maximum punishment! Do you have any idea how damaging this can be to the accused individual, where the media, neighbors, employers, local church leadership, spouse, family members and friends all jump on this accusation, with the consequence of the alleged act being made public ( trial by publicity), the person loosing their job or seriously damaging their employer/employee/fellow worker relationships, fellow church members and neighbors making snap judgements, etc., etc???

DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA? Probably not, or you wouldn't have asked such a callus question.

Get this straight... the girl is not the victim, the accused person is.

She should be convicted to the full extent of law, sued for defamation of character and slander (her parents if she's a minor), and placed on a "False Sex Accusers" list, just like genuine Sex Offenders are place on a public list.

Yes, a "False Sex Accusers" list would help.

This is a case of someone | 12:08 a.m. June 28, 2008

Accused
It could be you
You are innocent and now you are in Jail
You can see how easy some liar will ruin your life
The Judges in Box Elder County are liars as well
They ruin young peoples lives
Confess like the rest they say!

kilgore | 5:34 a.m. June 28, 2008

Do what the American Indian tribes did, if someone falsely accuses, they get the same penalty that would have been doled out to the accused if they had been found guilty. That would stop this sort of thing. Research such as Kanin's (google "kanin rape") has found that 30-40% of all rape accusations are false (actually he found 41%). We need to distance ourselves from the hurtful and obviously incorrect assumption that women never lie about rape. They do and they do it more often than most people know. Men are suffering badly as a result.

I would also urge many of you to check out your own bias's. The default cultural assumption is that women who commit crimes are in need of "help" while men who commit crimes are simply evil and in need of punishment. Read Moxon's new book the "Woman Racket" for a detailed explanation.

Fidelbogen | 7:06 a.m. June 28, 2008

"The saddest part is that such an incident may scare girls, who have been raped, to report it."

Why is THAT the "saddest" part? What about the RAPE LIAR'S innocent victim? Could there be anything "sad" about suffering a false accusation, being sent to prison and raped, having your good name smeared all over the media, being placed on a sexual offender's list, and so on. . .?

Or could it be that because the falsely accused victim is MALE, his suffering is of no importance? What a feminist attitude!

The "saddest part" is the direct, immediate suffering of the rape liar's falsely accused victim, and NOT the hypothetical difficulties experienced by hypothetical future rape victims. We need to get our priorities straight.

I agree with Infuriated: | 8:51 a.m. June 28, 2008

People that fabricate stories at this degree should be charged with a felony.

Once a persons name has been associated in the news for a crime like this they are considered criminal, it is hard to overcome news bashing.

What a creepy girl.

Between | 9:57 a.m. June 28, 2008

There are many problems that come to the child in a case like this. The media making this all available to all of her peers and others in her life will most likely cause depression and other problems. The judge should make it a point to find a middle of the road punishment and then require counseling so she gets the help she needs. It needs to be a "must" that she knows the problems of her actions and doesnt repeat them in the future.

WOW | 11:14 a.m. June 28, 2008

poeple really get up tight about this subject every one needs to relax a minute then reevaluate the situation before condemming this girl. I agree she should be punished for what she did my dad has been falsly accused of a serious crime and it cost him thousands to fix it but hanging this girl out to dry will only hurt us as tax payers in the end if she is locked up she uses tax money if she has supervised probation we pay she needs to pay for her own therapy and repay any cost the police had as well as any future cost but we cant give up on her or we'll end up paying for it

Close Call! | 12:08 p.m. June 28, 2008

Man what a close call! The police find someone close to her description of the rapist, she lies that thatï¿½s him, and heï¿½s put away for 25 years.

Project Innocence has pulled over 200 men out of prison so accused and proven innocent. The last I read, not one woman was charged.

With the false rape claims running 40-60% (it depends on several factorsï¿½military, college, blue collar town) it is totally out of control and totally unacceptable. Women such as this apparently need a greater incentive to stop filing false rape reports and ruining men's lives.

Anonymous | 2:25 p.m. June 28, 2008

I disagree that this is "just a young girl who needs help."

If it is shown that she is in fact, mentally disturbed, by all means, get her the help she needs.

But dollars to donuts, she is a normal teenager who got herself into a pickle (lied to someone and got caught, had sex with her bf, etc) and thought this would get her out of it.

It's likely not a kid who needs compassion and treatment. But needs punishment.

Distrubed.. | 9:16 p.m. June 28, 2008

is not a defense. Let the full weight of the law and monetary restitution for the police costs be visited on this person. A few months without her cell phone and texting might impress her.

When I was younger | 9:28 p.m. June 28, 2008

I had a person close to me accuse me to the police. We had messed around but nothing serious. Turns out her father was the culprit, but she didn't want to release his name to a school authority. At 15, I literally lost half a head of hair when the police pulled me in and questioned me. Fortunately, other than giving me a bad name with my extended family that found out, it wasn't made public. I am still close with this person now that I am 30. She seems to finally have found a good man. I didn't spend time in prison, but for those who did under false accusations, I can see the equal time spent for the accusers. Though I have no desire, (and didn't back then) to see this girl suffer for her story, I think it would be fair, if proven a false accusation, that those that investigate send the bill to those who falsely accuse. Maybe even pay for therapy. There has to be some kind of middle ground so she doesn't end up ruining another's life.

Mike | 10:55 p.m. June 28, 2008

I agree with all those who have written before (especially Infuriated) to punish this girl to the maximum extent of the law! A similar incident happened to a friend of mine in AZ that is still a practicing Chiropractor. A woman falsely accused him of touching her inappropriately even to the point of molestation. Turned out she was proven wrong and ended up getting countersued and had charges brought up against her that permanently went on her record.
So I say YES, throw the book at this girl that falsely accused this man of rape!!! The courts and district attorney needs to get involved and make such an example of her so that any woman in the future will not ever dare try anything like this for attention or any other reason.
Oh and for those that think she needs help, that's for the State to decide. Maybe she does, maybe she doesn't. If she does, then she'll get what help she needs while in incarceration.
By the way, does anyone know who this girl is or what her name is?

Falsely Accused | 12:11 a.m. June 29, 2008

These kind of actions should be punished heavily. False accusations like this are epidemic many studies have shown so yet the main-stream public is always so quick to side with the accuser and become extremly hateful and damning of the accused creating a total guilty until proven innocent case that is extremly difficult for the accused to overcome and even if he does prove the accusations were false it still follows him for life, I know this because I had an ex-girlfriend when I was a teen make the the same false accusation of rape against me following a break up that even with tons of evidence against and multiple changes in her story. In the end it still led to me spending a year in juvenile lock-up undergoing evaluation after evaluation that were intentianllay designed to try and prove I was some kind of sexual predator. Even though it is now long behind me it still huants my reputation in the comunity where it happened. So any punishment they give her no matter hwo severe will not equal the life-damaging effects that would've resulted had an accused been named and had to overcome.

A Good Example... | 12:20 a.m. June 29, 2008

...of how false accusations can be made by someone, believed by many, and have the potential of ruining an innocent person's life. My husband was at the receiving end of a false accusation 20 months ago. We spent $15,000 in bail and legal fees, could not prove his innocence as there was no evidence, and the accuser is almost always believed. He spent 6 months in jail, lost his job, is on the Registry for many years, has to go to counseling at $100 a week for about 2+ years, on probation for 5 years, has to pay a large fine, can't go to our grandchildren's activities, town parades and events, got denied life insurance, which we need, one son won't speak to him, and other problems too numerous to mention. We are near retirement age, but we won't be able to retire until we just can't work any longer. Savings all gone. SO PLEASE THINK BEFORE MAKING A FALSE ACCUSATION...PLEASE!! An LDS church court found him not guilty, for which we are grateful, but all our plans for the future have changed. Can't serve a mission together now. Still trying to figure out how to live our lives.

Rich | 12:26 a.m. June 29, 2008

Kids make mistakes. Unfortunately some mistakes are serious. I'm just glad she wasn't the cause of one more unjust conviction of an innocent person. Many so-called rape victims have put innocent men behind bars. Too often we fail to do what the Bible suggests, that ever accusation must be proved by the mouths of two or three witnesses. It is hard to prove rape, but we should not allow our society to lock up people simply because a girl cries rape and shows evidence of sexual intercourse. I feel the same way about those accused of child abuse, especially by ex-spouses fighting over child custody. Don't put me on a jury in one of these cases because I will vote for conviction only if there is enough evidence for me to be able to say that the accused committed the crime. I will need to know beyond a reasonable doubt, not any doubt, but a reasonable doubt. And when a girl cries rape and cannot provide some compelling evidence, sorry, the accusation alone is not enough evidence for me, even if the accused lies about the entire event.

jack dumas | 10:32 a.m. June 30, 2008

I think anyone with serious enough problems should not get punished for their crime so long as no one really gets hurts. For example a poor person that steals from a rich one who is not really hurt by the lost of money should get a pass if there was no violence. This would be a good solution to empty our prison. I will be 'compassionate' when its a poor inner city kid that does the crime. If the kid, is from a single parent familiy, poor, and with problems at home, bingo, I will let it go. As long as no one is hurt and the kid has problems, I will let it go... NOT .

She should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, since shee's a minor it will be juvenile law which is fine by me since it takes into account the age of the perp, which is part of the special treatement she is entitled to, and yes for juvies, the law will can still recommend help, but treat her the same as others. Full extent of juvi law (not adult).

claes | 2:20 p.m. June 30, 2008

I hope the judge throw the book at her.

Cwelcuma | 4:44 a.m. July 18, 2008

THE SADDEST PART?! What about this little sociopath's INNOCENT victim? The guy whose life she nearly ruined? It doesn't matter if the charges are false, brain-dead man-hating feminists will still blame him for something that never ocurred! This makes my blood boil! The double standards that are so rife in Western society! She'll get off scott free, or with a token slap on the wrist, I assure you. Things had better change, and they had better damn well change quickly!

stop misandry | 6:09 p.m. July 18, 2008

With each false rape allegation it further impugns the integrity of all men.

Silently accepting misandry - (the hatred of men) as 'just how it is' makes those who witnesses it just as culpable as the actual people who commit misandry. Those who witness misandry allow it to continue by giving it a wordless pass.

Misandryists need to be publically called out, scorned, and ostracized, especially by other women. Otherwise those individuals engaging in misandry get to feel like they're normal, and that what they're doing is okay.

Joi | 6:33 p.m. July 18, 2008

(mercifully) we were spared the inevitable quote from the feminist rape crisis center director or police detective telling us how false claims are bad, not because they harm innocent men but because they may discourage real victims from coming forward.

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