RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) community can rest a bit easier after a series of reported assaults were found to have been untrue.
On Monday, The VCU Police Department confirmed a current VCU Health employee was responsible for making four fabricated assault and battery reports dating back to 2022 — the latest being reported to have taken place last week at James Branch Cabell Library on the university’s Monroe Park Campus.
“Cabell Library is a very, very safe place,” VCU Police Chief John Venuti said. “It has extensive video surveillance, it has security officers, it’s surrounded by VCU Police officers on a regular basis.”
The string of reported incidents of sexual assault and battery had officials and students alarmed, including senior Athelstan Carlton and his sister, who is also a student.
“She hasn’t gone out in like two weeks,” Carlton said about his sister. “She’s been pretty scared about the [VCU] area.”
The most recent reported incident was on Wednesday, Feb. 14 around 3 p.m., when an anonymous victim filed a “delayed report” claiming to have been choked in a women’s restroom at Cabell Library earlier that day.
Chief Venuti said investigators combed through hours of security footage, but couldn’t find any evidence of the reported crime, so officers spoke to the alleged victim again.
“The victim disclosed to us that that report never, never took place,” Chief Venuti said.
This raised red flags about three other similar reports which dated back to November 2022 — all three of which were reported late by an anonymous victim with limited information. VCU Police confirmed the alleged victim in Cabell Library incident, a VCU Health employee, confessed to fabricating all of them.
The employee’s identity has not been released and their motive remains unclear.
“I think it would be kind of crazy for us to jump inside someone’s head to see why this was was reported,” said Chief Venuti when asked why the employee may have fabricated the reports.
The employee has not yet been charged with any crimes. 8News Legal Analyst Russ Stone emphasized that intent is an important factor when a person is being charged with a crime.
In Virginia, filing a false report is a Class 1 misdemeanor, but Stone said that some circumstances could affect that charge.
“If making the false report was to get somebody in trouble as a result of their race, gender, sexual identity, religion, various protected classes… if they can prove that it was done for that reason, then it can become a felony,” Stone said.
VCU officials emphasized that false reports like these are rare and whenever a case shows up on investigators’ desks, they start by believing the victim. Carlton said the wave of lies shouldn’t prevent real victims from feeling safe about coming forward.
“I don’t know what their motives were, but it’s not representative of all sexual assault victims,” Carlton said.
