DA: Bend woman who falsely claimed assault, robbery not charged

A Bend woman who told her daughter she’d been assaulted and robbed by culprits who tossed a stuffed animal in front of her car — prompting the daughter’s viral Facebook post — won’t be charged with a crime, Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said Monday. But he said she should be “ashamed” and should offer the community an apology.

Here is Hummel’s full statement on the incident and investigation (except for the woman’s name, which we have removed, as it is NewsChannel 21’s general policy not to name individuals in such matters who have not been charged with a crime).:

“On Nov. 16, Bend Police Officers became aware of a posting on Facebook about a startling incident that had allegedly occurred two days earlier. According to the author of the post, her mother was the victim of a bizarre and terrifying incident on Shevlin Park Road.

“In her post, the daughter said that her mother was driving alone in her car when she struck a dog in the roadway. When the mother got out of her car to render aid, she realized what she struck was actually a stuffed animal.

“Then two men suddenly appeared, pointed a knife at her, slammed her against her car, robbed her of the $4,000 that was in her purse, and fled in a black van.

“The daughter said in her post that her mother reported the incident to the police. The daughter was merely relating what her mother told her of the incident – the daughter was not in the car with her mother.

“The police were perplexed by the post because they had received no such report from the mother. Fearing for the safety of our community, they contacted the mother … a 57-year-old resident of Bend.

“During a four-hour in-person interview … (the woman) shared the alleged terrifying details of this horrific incident, which matched the details in her daughter’s Facebook post.

“It soon became apparent to police that (the woman) was lying. She had not struck a stuffed animal. She was not robbed. There was no black van.

“Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel reviewed the facts and considered charging (the woman) with the crime of Initiating a False Report, but decided Monday that no crime was committed.

“The crime of Initiating a False Report, as interpreted by the Oregon Court of Appeals in 2017 in the case of State v. Velasquez (286 Or. App 400), requires that the suspect either directly initiate a report to law enforcement or do something that they know will result in someone else falsely reporting a matter to law enforcement.

“It is not a crime to merely lie to law enforcement. In this case, Bend Police Officers reached out to (the woman) and asked her what happened – she did not initiate the report.

“Local law enforcement are to be commended for quickly reacting when they became aware of a social media post about alleged robbers on the run,” Hummel said.

“Their ‘all hands on deck’ approach to this investigation was warranted due to the serious nature of the allegations. Because of the number of officers who worked this case, there were less officers on the road working other cases, which made our community less safe during that time.

“(The woman) put her own self-interest ahead of the safety and well-being of our community. She should be ashamed and I hope she offers our community an apology. I also hope she gets the help she needs to address the reasons behind why she made up this story.”