A 25-year-old woman was arrested Wednesday for allegedly lying about being sexually assaulted while working at Stanford University, according to prosecutors.
The woman later admitted to prosecutors that she made up the false claims because she was angry with a co-worker.
Jennifer Gries of Santa Clara claimed she was raped twice while working at Stanford and told investigators that her attacker was a 6-foot man in his 20s and was Black, according to the Santa Clara County district attorney’s office.
Gries was charged with felony perjury and inducing false testimony, a misdemeanor, according to prosecutors.
Dist. Atty. Jeff Rosen called the crime “rare and deeply disturbing.”
“Our hearts go out to the falsely accused,” Rosen said in a written statement. “Our hearts go out to students who had to look over their shoulders on their way to class. Our hearts go out to legitimate sexual assault victims who wonder if they will be believed.”
Both incidents sparked campus-wide alerts to students and staff about a possible serial rapist on campus.
In August, Gries told a nurse at the Valley Medical Center that she was approached by a man as she was walking to her car. The man pinned her to the ground in a restroom and raped her, according to an investigator’s report that accompanied the charging documents.
Gries agreed to be examined at the hospital for any male DNA left by the attacker and the samples were placed into a sexual assault forensic evidence kit.
In October, Gries claimed...
Foley partner Lisa Noller, Chair of the Firm’s Litigation Department, will be speaking at the American Bar Association’s Qui Tam & Civil False Claims and Healthcare Fraud Institute in Washingt...