Faked Hate Crime Gets Jail Time, "Thank You" says Eugene Delgaudio
Charlie Rogers lied to police and fabricated a hate crime. Should she also be found guilty of committing a hate crime, in conjunction with her other offenses?, asks Eugene Delgaudio President of Public Advocate.
Charlie Rogers will serve a week in jail and two years on probation for faking the anti-gay hate crime that stunned Lincoln last summer and captured the country's attention.
Lancaster County Judge Gale Pokorny on Thursday morning also ordered the 34-year-old to do 250 hours of community service for lying to police when she told investigators three men broke into her house, tied her up, carved anti-gay slurs into her skin and tried to light the house on fire.
"The evidence is overwhelming that Charlie Rogers' narrative of July 22, 2012, was an incredible and outrageous lie the second it passed her lips," Pokorny said.
Rogers will start her jail sentence April 29. She could do another 90 days behind bars in 2015 if she does not complete probation.
Pokorny also ordered her to take a comprehensive psychiatric exam and give her probation officer access to all her medical records.
Rogers, a former Husker basketball star, pleaded no contest in Lancaster County Court in December, a reversal of the not guilty plea she made three months earlier. Pokorny found her guilty of making a false report to police.