UCSD Student Recants Rape Story

An 18-year-old UC San Diego student who said she had been raped twice in her campus apartment by a man wielding a knife, recanted her story Monday, campus authorities said.

The sophomore, who reported being raped at knifepoint on March 3 in her bedroom at a campus apartment complex, told police Monday that that story and one that detailed a Jan. 8 attack were fictitious, Alan Jenkins, UCSD Crime Prevention spokesman said.

The disclosure came after a two-week investigation by campus police determined that the woman had not been raped and that the man she described as her attacker did not exist, Jenkins said.

“She decided that it was in her best interest to correct original information,” Jenkins said.

The woman originally told police that an unknown man entered her bedroom through an unlocked door at the Warren Apartments about March 3 and raped her at knifepoint, UCSD police said. She later told police that the same man had raped her in January at the same location.

The incident prompted police to issue a community alert bulletin on campus, UCSD police said.

Jenkins said he did not know why the woman fabricated the the story of the attacks and said she might face criminal and/or administrative charges for filing a false report.

“I hope this unfortunate situation will not stop women who have been raped from coming forward,” Jenkins said. “If someone on this campus has been raped, we want to investigate it.”