Gang Rape Was a Lie, O.C. Woman Concedes

A Dana Point woman pleaded guilty Monday to falsely accusing six men of kidnapping and raping her in 2004, a lie that could have led to life sentences for the accused if not for a videotape that showed that the sex was consensual.

Under the plea agreement, Tamara Anne Moonier will spend no more than 12 months in Orange County Jail for lying about the assault and accepting $1,850 in state funds for crime victims. Moonier will be sentenced Sept. 22.

Authorities are still baffled as to why Moonier, 29, lied about the assault and then told police about the videotape that cleared the men, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Chrisopoulos. The 40-minute tape was shot by one of the men who had sex with Moonier and shows her orchestrating some of the sex, the prosecutor said.

“She tried ruining the lives of six innocent men,” Chrisopoulos said.

“The accusations against them were devastating. Kidnapping for purpose of rape calls for life in prison if convicted.”

Moonier could not be reached for comment Monday.

Authorities said Moonier met one of the men at a Fullerton bar on June 6, 2004, and agreed to go home with him.

The man had several friends at his house, and the woman agreed to have sex with them, Chrisopoulos said.

“At one point she’s looking at the camera and said, ‘If this is on the Internet, I want a piece of the action,’ ” Chrisopoulos said.

Hours later, prosecutors said, one of the men drove her back to her car in the bar’s parking lot. Chrisopoulos said that “for some unknown reason,” Moonier went directly to the Fullerton police station and reported that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint from the parking lot and gang-raped.

The prosecutor said the woman gave police a detailed account of the night’s events and did not appear to be under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

“She remembered names, their hobbies, where they worked,” Chrisopoulos said.

“Her accounts of the sex acts with each individual were pretty accurate, based on the tape. But she lied when she said none of this was consensual. Then she told police about the videotape.”

A few days after the incident, one of the men brought the tape to police headquarters.

The six men were questioned and not charged.

Months after the incident, police contacted Moonier and told her they had reviewed the tape.

“They asked her if she was still sticking by her story that she had been kidnapped and raped,” Chrisopoulos said. “She said she was.”