Jones now claims that she never used the word "rape," but disturbing new information reveals that Jones led New York police on a wild goose chase while they gave her special treatment not afforded to typical rape accuses.
Jones claimed that a man grabbed her from behind, then dragged her into a wooded area and attempted to rape her. The man bolted when two tourists saw the incident and screamed, she claimed.
Jones also claimed that the same man showed up near her Manhattan apartment two months later, on November 21, to threaten her. He allegedly told her: "I know you went to the police." (She had not gone to the police -- November 24 was the first time she reported the alleged incidents to police.)
According to the New York Post: ". . . for cops, the story was all wet. The first clue was that she waited until Nov. 24, two months later, to report the alleged attack . . . ."
According to police, detectives conducted a lengthy investigation and canvassed the area for video and witnesses, but came up empty-handed. They went to speak with Ms. Jones again, and noticed more inconsistencies in her story, unnamed New York Post sources said.
While Jones now says she never said the word "rape," the New York Daily News repored the following: "WABC-TV weatherwoman Heidi Jones was given 'round-the-clock protection by NYPD detectives before fessing up to sending cops on a wild-goose chase for her phony Central Park attacker, a police source said. Jones was even contacted by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, who personally apologized to the meteorologist when she said two uniformed officers refused to take a police report after the bogus Sept. 24 assault, two other police sources said. . . . . . [NYPD spokesman Paul Browne denied the account and said Kelly never reached out to Jones.] But the [New York Daily News] source, who is close to the investigation, said the 37-year-old forecaster was even given a small squad of detectives from the special victims unit to provide security for her. 'The order came from the higherups,' the source said. 'We were providing 24-hours protection. It's rarely done.' Six detectives spent three weeks 'taking her wherever she needed to go,' the source said. Some of the places included a flea market at Union Square, restaurants around the city, movie theaters and even walks with her dog on the West Side Highway, near where she lives, the source said. . . . . But as Jones enjoyed the perks of being chauffeured around town by the city's Finest, she continued to flake out of meetings about her case with Internal Affairs detectives and prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office. Detectives grew even more suspicious of Jones' vague story when they listened to conversations she had with her sister during the rides. 'Her story was inconsistent,' the source said, adding that dozens of man-hours were also lost poring over surveillance footage from the park in search of a man that fit the description she gave of her attacker. 'All the videos were coming back with no results,' the source said."
After being confronted with the discrepancies, a source said Miss Jones admitted that she had made up the story.
Jones allegedly told police she was having problems in her relationship and thought reporting the bogus crimes would gain her sympathy.
Jones has been suspended by the station pending an investigation. She is due in court on Jan. 5, and could face up to a year in prison if convicted.
When staffers at the TV station learned that Jones had been lying all along their sympathy turned to outrage. "All this trust we had is shattered. We're like a family. We feel betrayed," the source said, adding that it had become "common knowledge" around the newsroom that Jones claimed to have been attacked in late September. "To the point that security guards would offer to escort her home," the source said.
Police sources said Jones had admitted to filing the false report because she suffered from "personal and professional pressures" and wanted to gain "sympathy" over an undisclosed personal issue.
Jones’ attorney said she is urging people to refrain from jumping to conclusions about the unproven charges against her.
Ironically, in 2007, Jones co-hosted a television show celebrating the anniversary of Central Park.
According to Jones' personal website, RunWithHeidi.com, her 'motto' is this: "If you knew you wouldn’t fail, what would you try?"
One female writer pondered Jones' motivation: "So what kind of personal problems prompt a woman to pretend she’s been raped? As a woman, the only thing I can think of is maybe you’ve gotten some kind of STD that you need to account for in some way other than how you actually acquired it. I can see how if she tried to sell that story to her significant other, it could just all blow up in her face…as it obviously has." http://www.current-movie-reviews.com/people/2010/12/15/heidi-jones-pretended-she-was-raped-wanted-attention-something-smells-and-its-not-tuna/
Jones' purported motivation matches one of the common motivations of false rape accusers cited by experts in the field. In one landmark report, Dr. Eugene Kanin identified "Attention/Sympathy-Getting Device" as one of the three most common reasons for false rape claims in a study he had undertaken. Dr. Kanin wrote:
"Although this device seems to be the most extravagant use for which a false rape charge is made, it is also the most socially harmless in that no one was identified as the rapist. Approximately 18% (n = 8) of the false charges clearly served this function. The entire verbalization of the charge is, by and large, a fabrication without base."
Identification of Alleged Hispanic Attacker
False rape claims are not divorced from the culture in which they are made. To enhance the plausibility of the lie and to jack up its scariness quotient, many false rape claims tap into stereotypes and widely shared prejudices by identifying imaginary minority males as the perpetrator, especially blacks and Hispanics, because of the perceived greater likelihood of black and Hispanic men to be involved in violent criminal activity than Caucasian males.
In this case, Jones concocted an imaginary Hispanic man as her would-be rapist.
The Lunatic Fringe Chimes In
And now, a word from the lunatic fringe. We've been waiting for the spinning to start in the blogosphere in an attempt to lessen the evil of false rape claims, but the following loopy comment has so much spin it might make you dizzy. It speculates that the lie was a product of . . . rape culture! Of course! Just read:
"I’m going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps there’s something else she really wanted to tell the world through this blatant cry for help. Maybe she’s severely depressed. Maybe there’s someone at work who has been harassing her. Maybe she really was raped by someone she knows and is truly scared to press charges. Maybe she’s trying to work out some sort of sexual assault from her past. Whatever she’s covering up, it has to be big, right?" Link: http://www.meonews.com/heidi-jones-complete-rape-story-meo-news
But, "it has to be big"? Um, no, it does not. Cases from the not-distant past thoroughly debunk that assumption. A woman tried to destroy the life of a man she didn't know with a rape lie because he wouldn't give her a beer. A maid accused her employer of rape because she didn't like her workload. A girl accused a man of rape for throwing a flower at her. A woman falsely accused her lover of rape because he had the bad manners to go speak with a roommate after having sex instead of staying with her.
One woman told a rape lie to avoid trouble for being late for work. Another caused three men to be interrogated for rapes they didn't commit, all because she wanted a day off from work. Another had her boyfriend arrested for rape because he took too long to buy cigarettes. Several women didn't want to pay cab fares, so they accused innocent cab drivers, working class nobodys, of rape.
Another woman sent a man to prison for five years because she was bored. As awful as each of those reasons are, some women need no excuse at all. An 18-year-year-old boy was hauled out of class, arrested, and jailed for a month on a random false rape claim by a girl he'd never met.
Cites to each of these are found in this post: http://falserapesociety.blogspot.com/2010/11/women-tells-rape-lie-because-she-was.html
Sources:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/wabc_weather_gal_heidi_jones_suspended_ivnuzwpywzcPtGkhI4cD4I
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/15/weather-anchor-heidi-jones-arrested-for-allegedly-lying-to-police/
http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=news/local&id=5470473
http://falserapearchives.blogspot.com/2009/06/archives-of-sexual-behavior-feb-1994.html
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/culture/2010/12/957478/true-crime-embezzlement-bronx-serial-murder-south-shore-suicide-soho
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/12/15/2010-12-15_wabctvs_heidi_jones_tale_of_central_park_attack_phony_cops_say_station_may_suspe.html#ixzz18D1DoErU
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1338835/Popular-weather-girl-face-year-jail-falsely-crying-rape-jogging-Central-Park.html#ixzz18D3CsuYconce
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/15/heide-jones-abc-weatherwo_n_796958.html
http://www.meonews.com/heidi-jones-complete-rape-story-meo-news
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/heidi_did_not_say_rape_i40sTaBRkX92ynvp6OggLN
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/12/17/2010-12-17_how_heidi_milked_her_big_lie_to_cops_li_got_rides_from_police_to_work__24hr_prot.html
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/heidi_did_not_say_rape_i40sTaBRkX92ynvp6OggLN
Posts
35 comments:
Excellent report.
"Jones’ attorney said she is urging people to refrain from jumping to conclusions about the unproven charges against her."
Didn't she already admit she lied?
Here we go again. Another fictitious "Black" man or "Hispanic" man.
I guess White men aren't as believable.
This same thing happened in my city, a false accuser told police it was a "dirty" "old" van full of "Hispanic" men.
Disgusting.
The only upside to this sad situation is that it has actually, if oh-so-briefly, brought our common interest to the national TV market.
Now if the NYPD takes a stand for itself, it's own valuable resources AND the disgusting likelihood the innocent men are charged and convicted in this, our flawed system.
Hoping it has just a lil more life in it...
I bet she will never, ever, ever, ever, cause a "public panic" that could and does get men and and boys beat to death, like that again.
In a sort of twisted way, this is exciting.
Maybe now the politicians will start seeing this type of crime as a CRIME and pass a law to make falsifying a rape a felony.
Sometimes it takes a nut case that's in a large fishbowl to make change.
where is this ladies father, didn't he teach her right from wrong?? saying you were raped when you were not raped is a barbaric act from someone who has "no respect at all" for our legal system, or even real victims.
when did these ladies start to think they are above the rule of law??? I will answer that, when American law enforcement started to put them "above the law".
yes, yes, mr. werner, this is a case that im satisfied with the results.
I read about this on another blog earlier this morning.
Does anybody know her exact motivation for the false allegation?
Did she have a STD that she wanted to explain to her spouse?
Was she actually married?
Sorry for the morbid curiosity - I am a "learner".
This story made National Headlines.
We can only hope that the Prosecutor and Judge, make an example out if this False Rape Accuser.
A year in jail would dissuade other false accusers.
White men are believable too. There's plenty of us white immigrants that are just as scary... I mean, large Slavic men :)
In fact, a lot of (my) people from Serbia are cab drivers when they come here, and at least once a month a woman calls the cops because she doesn't want to pay the fare.
Some cops don't even point out that there is a camera on board. They just arrest the man, because of the whole White Knight Syndrome.
On a funnier note, a friend of mine gave a ride to this junkie, who couldn't pay, so instead he negotiated about 100 copied music CD's...
I've looked but so far I see no coverage from the NY Times. I guess they're too busy covering how appliances are disappearing from trash cans. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/15/nyregion/15fridge.html?_r=1&ref=nyregion
Hispanic and black men might "up the scary quotient", but otoh, the outrage and outcry when they are falsely accused by white women are ten fold.
She is going to be in far deeper shit for accusing an imaginary hispanic or black man than she would be accusing a clean cut white imaginary guy.
I'm always a tad relieved to see a white woman falsely claim a person of color, just because she is more likely to get her just deserts.
Which really sucks for white guys.
I've been searching for commentary on the feminist sites I visit and haven't seen anything.
Archivist or anyone else, have you?
I'm very interested in seeing how they treat a story this big.
Social Worker,
haven't seen a thing. And if they hold true to form, it will be about a year before they dredge it up again, and start with the whole, "We don't really know what happened", and "she must have really been having problems to do something like that". If you haven't already, take a look at the story HERE, and go to the Amanda Hess link for how it get's twisted.
See, this story puts lie to the claim that these things don't have consequences, or that they are rare. So they typically won't say a whole lot during the time it is ongoing.
I did read that and partly agree.
The part I agree to in Hess' take is that, rather than it being okay for women to act on a wild or "taboo" impulse to have sex outside of accepted standards, it is viewed as whorish and demeaning.
It's the same old tripe about guys are cool for sleeping around but girls aren't.
I DON'T agree that it lays a foundation for filing fake criminal charges against someone.
I get it psychologically, but like I say to many of my clients, just because you FEEL like doing something doesn't take away the consequences of doing it.
It really is bothering me that this is being ignored in fem circles.
I know you will all say, what did I expect?...but still.
Soc Worker -- the SGI has no interest in what they would claim is an isolated cry for help of a troubled woman. See, they can't blame a cry for sympathy on "slut shaming." The fact is, using false rape claims to satisfy a need for attention is something only available to women. It is the nuclear bomb of attention getting, and it's only plausible when a woman does it. I suppose when a male needs such attention, he might commit suicide.
Men get drunk and arrested for DUI when they need attention.
Men do self destructive things when they need attention.
The avenue to easily destroy other people's lives on say so is closed to them.
They actually have to get their hands dirty.
Social Worker,
Don't know if you read through the comments on that piece by Hess, but that actuall is answered. For those men that are the Manwhores, other men will have very little to do with them. And it isn't the men, who are giving them all of that sex, it's women. If women would avoid the male slut, like the majority of men avoid the female slut, most of this problem would disappear.
The biggest problem with that article, and the majority of feminist blogs/sites, is that they use a proven case of a false accusation, to talk about a completely different crime, rape. That minimization is one of the primary reasons that feminists are so despised by rational thinking people. But they've drunk so deep from the koolaid, that they can't see just how hateful they are.
If you look on the NY Daily News site you can already see the twisting. It no longer says rape in the caption of the story but now i's been downgraded to she made a stalking complaint lol
Of course, the News is a typical male bashing rag of a paper and most of the readers they cater to are Obama type manginas and feminist wacko types. But even taking this into consideration it's amazing how many comments are condemning this famale weather reader.As usual though it's for the wrong reason, like the damage it does to females.
Steven is quite right.
My own FRA could have been easily avoided if I had not gotten down in the gutter with a couple of common sluts... they are/were "white trash", and I guess that means I lowered myself to being "white trash" while I was with them.
However, the idea is that we are all equal in the eyes of the Law, white trash or not, black, hispanic, asian, whatever.
That clearly is not the case.
What clearly happened in my case is that once the FRA was made, those it was made to, instead of approaching the issue logically and thoughtfully, simply made a snap decision.
Once that snap decision was made (the bastard did it) then EVERYTHING else was seen from that perspective, and whatever dialogue, thought or perception there was, was clearly suited to fit that dialogue.
In short, a snap choice, followed by laziness.
Throughout, that sadly all too human trait, a refusal to actually use the brains God gave us.
As for "regret" serving to retroactively re-write history, and that being a basis for an FRA.
Fuck, do I ever regret getting down into the gutter with white trash, but that doesn't change the facts.
"I’m going to go out on a limb and say that perhaps there’s something else she really wanted to tell the world through this blatant cry for help. Maybe she’s severely depressed. Maybe there’s someone at work who has been harassing her. Maybe she really was raped by someone she knows and is truly scared to press charges. Maybe she’s trying to work out some sort of sexual assault from her past. Whatever she’s covering up, it has to be big, right?"
Of course, no one, and I do mean no one, tries to make those sort of lame excuses when men are accused. It's always the same double-standard: women are troubled and need help, men are monsters who need to be punished.
"On "The Early Show," Contributor Dr. Jennifer Hartstein, a psychologist, said, "It's a really interesting question that we're all kind of trying to figure out. She did admit there were some personal setbacks going on in her life that she was potentially reaching out for some sympathy, that's one reason. Clearly, something, much deeper than that is happening. Did she have -- is this like a link to lots more trauma, a problem of lying that we can reach back into her past and also find? We don't know. Is it a psychotic break? I don't know. All of these questions really something really messed up with her reality testing and she doesn't have the skills to ask for the help she needs, which leads to the very big problematic behaviors."
Hartstein responded, "You know, there is a question of is there a thrill to that, too? ... Is it additional attention-seeking behavior? ... To me it is really a skills deficit, asking for sympathy and going really big and broad having a break from reality to think about what the consequences are going to be when she does this behavior."
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/16/earlyshow/main7155616.shtml
Oh, it's a "skills deficit"?? She didn't have the skills to ask for the help she needs?? Really??
That's like saying a bank robber had an "account deficit".
When have you ever heard anyone defend a man accused of assault by saying he didn't have the skills to settle things peacefully?
Apparently, this imaginary Hispanic man just needed to brush up on his seduction technique.
"Psychologists tell CBS News that Jones may have pulled the stunt to get a thrill out of outsmarting the police. However, it's not uncommon for women to report assaults and then change their stories after they begin to understand the strenuous and taxing process of prosecuting a perp."
http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2010/12/heidi-jones-abc-weather-anchor-recants-rape-story.html
Even if that were true, how would it be relevant here? She admitted making it up after the police investigation found inconsistencies in her story.
Anon,
That's a major part of the problem. And the chances for sympathy and understading flowing towards men, is likely not going to happen.
Which means that the excuses for women's behavior needs to stop being given. We are slowly starting to see this change, with more and longer sentences for false accusations.
What we need to start doing, is challenging people who start to make the excuses. ask them if they fight for the same type of treatment for a man accused of say, child abuse, as they do a woman. If not, call them on their hypocrisy.
@ESB
"For those men that are the Manwhores, other men will have very little to do with them. And it isn't the men, who are giving them all of that sex, it's women. If women would avoid the male slut, like the majority of men avoid the female slut, most of this problem would disappear."
The question behind the question is, what makes a "male slut" or "Manwhore" in this culture? And further, how can we avoid someone when we have given our power away to them? As you said, it's not the men (at least in heterosexual relationships) it's the women giving them "all of that sex." If a guy has a lot of women pursuing him due to his money, status, power, physical features/beauty, prowess, strength, conversational ability, charisma and intellect -- and the women want sex with such a man (due to hypergamy on the woman's part, perhaps?) does this make him a slut? Or merely a valued commodity? The gender feminists speak out against the objectification of women, but the fact is that women are just as capable of turning men into objects (and do so with the law on their side). That is why false accusations (and rape too) are so heinous -- it turns another human being into an object or a commodity for consumption by the powers that be.
It's easy to call someone a "Manwhore" until you yourself turned into a highly desired commodity. A great example of Man-Turned-Commodity is Tiger Woods. How many women were pursuing him? How many beautiful women waving their tits in Tiger's face did it take before he gave in? I'm not trying to justify Tiger's choices (or the women's waving of tits) just merely trying to explain that one must be careful in judging another human being who has been put in a place of special status in society.
There is the concept in Roman Catholic teaching of "the occasion of sin" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occasion_of_sin which is an external set of circumstances—whether of things or persons—which either because of their special nature or because of the frailty common to humanity or peculiar to some individual, incite or entice one to sin. Women voluntarily romantically involved themselves with Tiger, who through his own "occasion of sin" couldn't resist. Is Tiger a "Manwhore?" I've heard him called that, but I don't agree with it. Nor do I judge him -- women's special status in society trumps Tiger's status as a celebrity. When a woman falsely accuses a man of rape do I blame or judge her? Yes and no. Yes: because she is abusing her power and turning another human being into an object with unspeakable and dire consequences. And No: because we have allowed and enabled women to have special status in society that has given them their own unique ability to accuse with few consequences resulting in their own "occasion of sin." Your assertion is that the problems would go away by avoiding those (call them what you will) given special status and power. The reality is that we can no more avoid such persons than we can expect them not to abuse the privileges we ourselves have given them. The abuse of power is all the more glaring when it is a celebrity or member of the media, who are are already granted special status in society -- and it is much more difficult to avoid them if they're on the television reporting the weather! The key is not to grant such people entitlements, power, or special status in the first place: either by convention; personal agreement and consent; or by law (be that Tiger Woods, Heidi Jones, or anyone else).
Anon @ 11:52:
I like what you wrote. It's thoughtful and provoking. Whether or not there is a biological component or "urge" for us to view power as sexy in men, it is undeniable that women will compete sexually for the attention of that power (and vice versa for men competing sexually for "attractive" women). The neutralization or elimination of that concept would certainly change the field, but it sounds like that is a far off, future society ideal.
Back to the topic, I spent several hours last night searching multiple fem websites and...nothing on Jones.
Sometimes, guys, it's a bitch to be a rational feminist.
I left a response at the meonews blog attempting to make excuses for Heidi Jones' false claim. It does not look like my post passed moderation. I guess stating that there is no excuse for lying about rape is too vulgar and radical a concept for the fringe to consider.
There are women who can pull off being slutty.
They are smart, confident and usually wealthy. They don't give a damn what anyone else thinks.
Same goes for man whores.
It's the ones that can't "hang" that screw it up.
Me? I stayed away from it because I couldn't pull it off. What "mistakes" I made I blamed on my own foolishness, learned a lesson, and moved on.
I know others who enjoyed the grand feast, continue to live with zest, and don't look back with regret.
I envied them and masked my own inadequacies with mild slut shaming - knowing full well it was my own inhibitions and inadequacies that hindered me, not my moral superiority.
So there.
I said it.
Anonymously.
Social Worker said...
I've been searching for commentary on the feminist sites I visit and haven't seen anything.
Archivist or anyone else, have you?
I'm very interested in seeing how they treat a story this big.
Dec 15, 2010 10:32:00 PM
Jane Valez-Mitchell of HLN's "Issues". Featured this story. She interviwed a member of NOW. I'm trying to find a link to the story as it doesn't appear on her " Issues" site.
"To think that Heidi Jones could fabricate such a lie is reprehensible and an insult to women everywhere."
http://blackpoliticalthought.blogspot.com/2010/12/heidi-jones-good-morning-america.html
"She interviwed a member of NOW."
Oh, for Pete's sake! These people are ridiculous.
"But as Jones enjoyed the perks of being chauffeured around town by the city's Finest, she continued to flake out of meetings about her case with Internal Affairs detectives and prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office."
Curious why Internal Affairs would be involved. Did she say her imaginary assailant was a cop?
A year in jail would dissuade other false accusers.
interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thank you...
Chad (localstdtesting) on Twitter
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