Woman Who Accused Officer Of Rape Arrested

[TheeBadOne]

A 44 year-old woman is currently in jail, accused of falsely accusing an officer of rape, after Denver taxpayers spent more than $10,000 to have officers investigate what police claim is a fabricated case.

Deanna Vincent was arrested after a six-week internal police investigation that officers say caused a lot of hassles, headaches, time and money.

Vincent claimed that while being transported to jail for petty theft, a muscular white officer with blonde hair climbed over the passenger seat in a transport van and raped her in the back.

"We took this as a very serious allegation. She was treated as a victim," said Denver police spokesman Sonny Jackson.

But after six weeks of interviewing officers, witnesses and others, police said they could prove with testimony and with videotape that Vincent's accusation was false.

They filed a warrant for Vincent's arrest because, according to the affidavit, "it would be impossible for the sexual assault to have occurred the way Vincent describes."

In the end, police said everyone lost.

"This cost the city and tax payers thousands of dollars to basically prove that something did not happen," said Jackson.

"I think it is wrong, because it did happen," Vincent told 7NEWS Wednesday. "I was raped by an officer, but I don't know which, I had been drinking that night ... I am sure it was a police officer, otherwise it was one of the other people in there in the back."

Denver police say they arrested Vincent for alleged false reporting because she wasted officers' time, time they could have been working on real cases and helping the community by fighting crime.

They worry that a false claims would deter legitimate victims from coming forward.

Denver police hope the case does not discourage victims from coming forward. They want anyone who has an accusation against them to file the complaint but they want to send a message that people who do file false claims will have to pay the price with jail time.

Vincent has not been formally charged. But she faces a charge of false reporting, which is a class three misdemeanor and carries a sentence of up to six months in jail.

Vincent's initial arrest was for a theft of $13 in cab fare, she said.

http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news...55/detail.html