The University of Arkansas student who filed a sexual assault report earlier this week was arrested after police saw surveillance video contradicting her story, according to an arrest report released Friday. She also admitted to lying about her report, the arrest report states.
Investigators used the video of the Garland Avenue parking garage from Sunday to determine Julia Garcia’s report about being sexually assaulted there was false, according to the preliminary report released by the University of Arkansas Police Department.
After detectives approached Garcia about the video evidence, she recanted parts of her sexual assault report and admitted she lied about some aspects of the statement she gave police, according to the preliminary report.
Garcia was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of filing a false police report. She was released from the Washington County Detention Center without bond the same day, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Garcia’s arraignment is scheduled for May 30, according to the Sheriff’s Office.
The woman on Sunday reported to police that she was sexually assaulted in the Garland Avenue parking garage on campus. Officers immediately began searching for her alleged assailant, a 6-foot-tall man with a muscular build, according to the University of Arkansas Police Department.
Garcia told police she was attacked from behind about 8:30 p.m. in the parking garage by a man wearing a black ski mask and a long-sleeved black t-shirt, according to a campus safety notification issued Monday.
The suspect allegedly forced the woman against a rail between the first and second levels of the garage in the west stairwell, the notification states. Garcia also said the man was wearing dark blue jeans and brown work boots, police said.
Garcia told officers she kicked her assailant and escaped, according to the notification.
Garcia is listed as a freshman on the UA’s online directory. She is also listed as a UA student on her Facebook profile.
