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WABC Weather Anchor Arrested After Faking Rape Claim
By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 15, 2010
Modified Dec 15, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Dec 15, 2010
Modified Dec 15, 2010
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Weather anchor plus crime story equal puns galore for the Post, which reports, "WABC/Channel 7 weather babe Heidi Jones was arrested for perpetrating the ultimate snow job -- falsely claiming to cops that a man had tried to rape her while she was jogging in Central Park, sources said yesterday." The Post's lede was "Here's Heidi's forecast: Cloudy with a chance of deception" and later explains, "Jones spun a story that proved to be as unreliable as a five-day forecast, telling police last month that she was assaulted in September while pounding the pavement in the city's back yard, the sources said." But when the police's investigations came up with nothing, she admitted she made it all up.
Jones, who joined WABC 7 in 2005 and is an avid runner, apparently told police that a Hispanic man in his 30s or 40s "grabbed her from behind, dragged her into a wooded area and attempted to rape her" while she was running in Central Park. However, the attacker was scared off by others in the park, according to Jones' story. Jones didn't report the attack until November 24, which, according to the Post's sources, was strange.
At the time, the sources said, she told police that three days earlier, on Nov. 21, the same man somehow found her again and harassed her, saying, "I know you went to the police."
After cops took her report, detectives conducted a lengthy investigation, canvassing the area for video and witnesses.
Coming up empty-handed, they went to talk to Jones again -- and noticed inconsistencies in her story, the sources said.
After being confronted with the discrepancies, Jones admitted that she had pulled the story out of thin air, the sources said.
Jones said she concocted the tale in a plea for sympathy to counter some unknown setback that she was experiencing in her personal life, the sources said.
Jones was charged with filing a false report, which the Post explains is "a Class A misdemeanor. If convicted, she could face up to a year in jail or a $1,000 fine."
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fake rape
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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