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| Laurie Ann Martinez made an hysterical and phoney call to 911, claiming she had been raped |
A former California psychologist who faked a rape attack in an effort to convince her husband to move to a new neighbourhood today pleaded no contest to a felony conspiracy charge.
Sacramento Superior Court Judge Kevin J. McCormick sentenced Laurie Ann Martinez to five years probation, six months of electronic monitoring and ordered her to pay $4,463.32 in restitution for the police investigation.
On top of that comes the personal cost - her husband has divorced her, and she was fired from her job as a psychologist at California State Prison, Sacramento.
The court was told Martinez, 36, engaged the help of her friend, Nicole April Snyder, 33, to stage the bogus crime in April last year. Before dialling 911, she split her own lip, wet her pants, ripped her blouse, and had a friend punch her in the face.
When police arrived, she was crying hysterically, and told officers she had found a stranger in the house who knocked her out, raped her and fled taking two laptops, an Xbox and her purse.
But she was allegedly caught out when a colleague told police she had faked the entire event.
In court, Deputy District Attorney Chris Carlson called Martinez's behavior outrageous. He said it served to undermine the interests of true s*xual assault victims.
'The Police Department – law enforcement – is not a toy to be casually utilized by people to further their own personal agenda,' Carlson said outside court.
'We've got real victims of crime that need (police) help in cases that are legitimate.
'To send law enforcement off on wild goose chases like this really is an insult to the community."
Police believe Martinez invented the attack to persuade her husband to move to a better neighbourhood, with less crime.
Meanwhile, the 'stolen' goods were in fact hidden at Snyder's house.
Snyder told police Martinez called her almost daily to 'decry her living circumstances with her husband,' said Officer Joyce Thorgrimson's Jan. 17 letter to the court.
As for Martinez's psychologist's license, California Board of Psychology online records show it has been suspended. Carlson said Martinez waived a hearing to try to get it back.
The fake rape report also carried some consequences for Martinez's marriage.
A month after she filed it, her husband, according to online court records, filed for divorce.
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