Sacramento prison psychologist charged with false report of rape

From the Associated Press:

    Authorities allege a woman was so determined to convince her husband of a need to move to a safer neighborhood that she faked being raped. She split her own lip with a pin, scraped her knuckles with sandpaper, had her friend punch her in the face, and even wet her pants to give the appearance she had been knocked unconscious, authorities said Friday.

    Charges filed by the Sacramento County district attorney allege Laurie Ann Martinez, a prison psychologist, conspired with the friend to create the appearance that she was beaten, robbed and raped by a stranger in April in her Sacramento home.

    Police detectives and crime scene investigators spent hundreds of hours on the case, until one of Martinez’s prison co-workers came forward to say Martinez had been talking at work about faking a crime at her home to persuade her husband to move, Sacramento police Sgt. Andrew Pettit said Friday.

    Martinez, her friend and two co-workers eventually told police the whole thing was a setup to convince Martinez’s husband that they needed to move from a blighted, high-crime area three miles north of the state Capitol…..

    Missing from [Martinez's] home were two laptop computers, Martinez’s purse, an Xbox video game console, a camera and numerous credit cards that Martinez said the stranger had stolen.

    In reality, the items were all at the home of her friend, Nicole April Snyder, authorities allege. Investigators say Martinez had Snyder punch her in the face with boxing gloves they bought for that purpose.

    Martinez began crying hysterically when police arrived, according to court papers….

    Martinez had been a psychologist overseeing other mental health workers treating inmates at California State Prison….

Read the full article: “Calif. prison psychologist accused of faking rape.” The Sacramento Bee. Dec. 09, 2011. http://www.sacbee.com/2011/12/09/4112181/ca-prison-psychologist-charged.html