Police: Woman lied about sexual assault involving Sacred Heart student
Police say a New York woman lied when she reported that she was sexually assaulted by two men, one of whom was a Sacred Heart University football player, during a house party last October.
Nikki Yovino, 18, of South Setauket, N.Y., was charged earlier this week with filing a false report and tampering with evidence after an investigation into the incident, Bridgeport police said.
Police were called to St. Vincent's Medical Center last October after learning of a reported sexual assault.
The assault was reported to have happened in a bathroom of a home on Lakeside Drive, according to police.
Yovino was a student at Sacred Heart at the time of the incident, police said. One of the men allegedly involved was a football player at the school and the other was a former student, police said.
Detectives during their investigation met several times with school administrators.
Though initial witness statements and evidence suggested that there was a sexual assault, as the investigation continued, detectives discovered information that refuted Yovino's statements about the assault, police said. The information, police said, included new witness accounts, text messages and cellphone videos.
When detectives confronted Yovino with the new information, she admitted that she had consensual sex with both men.
Court records show she was released after posting $150,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court next month.
Mark Sherman, Yovino's attorney, said that he had not seen the police reports nor the video footage, but that he expected her to plead not guilty when she is arraigned next month.
"The details of what happened here will come out at the appropriate time during the court process," Sherman said.
In a statement, Deborah Noack, Sacred Heart's director of communications said, the two students were never expelled or stripped of scholarships because of the allegations.
Her statement continued: "Whenever there is any kind of incident at Sacred Heart University, we go to great lengths to ensure due process for all parties involved. The way that this particular case is playing out certainly demonstrates the validity of our procedures."
The school could not say if Yovino was still a student.
An Associated Press Report is included in this story.
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