Police say student, 19, filed false rape report

A 19-year-old college student’s report that she was raped in Coeur d’Alene on Monday was unfounded, Coeur d’Alene Police said Tuesday.

Police were called to an apartment complex near the city golf course at 12:15 p.m. Monday after the woman said she had been accosted in a stairwell, forced into her apartment and then raped. She described her attacker as black, stocky and about 6-foot-2. The area was sealed off as police and detectives canvassed the neighborhood.

“There were inconsistencies with her reporting of the incident,” Sgt. Christie Wood, information officer for the Coeur d’Alene Police, said Tuesday. Wood said Detective Todd Hedge interviewed the woman a second time Tuesday morning and concluded there was no rape.

“Detective Hedge stated that there were some personal issues (she) was dealing with that may have contributed to her fabricating the story,” Wood wrote in a press release. Wood said she felt confident the woman was not backing away out of any sense of shame or guilt.

Tuesday’s conclusions mark the fourth high-profile false report of rape in North Idaho since late March. The false reports have been troubling to police, who believe a serial rapist was responsible for seven rapes or attempted rapes in the area in 2003.

“You have to treat each report as if it has happened,” Wood said. “We expended a lot of resources (Monday) and took a lot of time away from other cases that have true victims.”

School resource officers were called to the rape scene, the entire detective’s division dropped other cases to go door-to-door seeking information, and a tracking dog and its handler were called out. Wood said police are tallying the costs and will ask city attorneys to seek restitution.