Police: Woman faked anti-lesbian assault

Police in Lincoln, Neb., say a woman made up a story that three men entered her home, tied her up, carved slurs into her skin and set a fire in her home.

The woman, identified as 33-year-old Charlie Rogers, faces a charge of filing a false report with police.

The woman went unnamed in the news reports of the alleged crime that made national headlines in late July.

Lincoln Police Chief Jim Peschong said on Aug. 21 that Rogers provided a motive for faking the assault on Facebook four days before she filed the police report. She wrote on her timeline, “So maybe I'm too idealistic but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me.”

Rogers, a former college basketball star, made the report to police on July 22. She said that men wearing ski masks had broken in and assaulted her before setting fire to the house. Early reports were that the attackers carved “dyke” and “slut” into her skin.

Those first reports prompted a vigil at the state capitol and a statement from the local LGBT civil rights group of shock and sadness.

Authorities say they interviewed Rogers four times and, based on inconsistencies in her story, as well as forensic evidence, they sought an arrest warrant for her.

The warrant indicates that the alleged crime scene was neat, with no signs of a struggle. Also, "there was no apparent blood on the bedspread; even though Ms. Rogers reported she was rolled on to her stomach after she had been cut on her arms, abdomen, chest and front legs while being held down."

The warrant also states that authorities believe the carvings were self-inflicted: "This opinion is based partially on the fact that the cuts appeared to be superficial and symmetrical, avoided sensitive areas of the body, appear that they would have taken considerable time to do and are accessible to the victim and follow the victim’s frame of reference for reading and writing."

The warrant further states that Rogers was not bruised, although she alleged her attackers beat her, and that a sales clerk identified Rogers as the person who purchased the materials she claimed the attackers used to tie her up.