x
Breaking News
More () »

U Of A Student Accused Of Falsely Reporting Sexual Assault Booked And Released

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – A University of Arkansas student accused of falsely reporting a sexual assault was booked and released from the Washington County De...
lindsey sweetin

FAYETTEVILLE (KFSM) – A University of Arkansas student accused of falsely reporting a sexual assault was booked and released from the Washington County Detention Center Friday (April 17), according to jail records.

Lindsey Sweetin faces a felony charge of filing a false police report, according to the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office. She was booked into the Washington County Detention Center at 8:58 a.m. and released at 9:57 a.m. Her first hearing has been scheduled for May 18 at 7:45 a.m., jail records state.

An arrest warrant was issued for Sweetin on Wednesday (April 15), officials said.

Authorities say she falsely reported to the University of Arkansas Police Department on March 9 that she had been sexually assaulted on Feb. 26 at the Harmon Avenue parking garage.

Sweetin told authorities the assault happened around 6:30 p.m. after a man approached her at the parking garage and asked for help jump starting his car, then asked for help getting home to his sick dog, according to police.

She also said the man grabbed her arm with one hand and put the other underneath her clothes before she got away and into her vehicle, the report states.

Following Sweetin’s report, detectives reviewed video footage from several cameras in the parking garage and didn’t find any suspects matching Sweetin’s description, according to the arrest warrant issued for Sweetin.

Detectives also spoke with the driver of a car seen on the video footage leaving shortly after Sweetin’s car left the garage. The driver said he had not heard any commotion, screaming or anything out of the ordinary while he was in the parking garage, the warrant states.

When investigators confronted Sweetin with those findings, she admitted that she had not been truthful about the incident, according to the warrant.

Sweetin told detectives she had seen a man matching the description she filed in the sexual assault report on Dickson Street and he did alarm her, but didn’t follow her into the Harmon Avenue parking garage, the warrant states. She then sent a text message to her boyfriend about seeing a man that scared her and “her boyfriend made a suggestion that something more might have happened,” according to the warrant. Sweetin said her boyfriend then told her brother and the story got worse from there, but Sweetin continued to go along with it because she didn’t know what else to do, the warrant states.

According to the warrant, Sweetin was released on her own recognizance.

Before You Leave, Check This Out