Student fabricates robbery report

The strong-armed robbery that was reported to have happened Oct. 19 east of the G. R. Herberger College of Business did not occur.

According to a safety alert update sent out via e-mail Oct. 31 and posted around campus, the St. Cloud Police Department discovered the report was fabricated. The alleged victim admitted he was not truthful in filing the report.

"The individual claimed to have been robbed for personal reasons, but after meeting with an investigator told her he had in fact fabricated the story," SCSU Public Safety security coordinator Jennifer Furan said.

The alleged robbery

Initially, the student said he was walking on the east side of the G. R. Herberger College of Business at about 11:15 a.m. Friday, Oct. 19, when two males assaulted him.

He said he was pushed against the side of the building and the two males stole his identification pouch materials and keys and damaged his cell phone. He said the men then fled north along the River Walk area.

At that time, the student activated an Emergency Blue-Light Phone and Public Safety responded and obtained a description of the two males.

Furan said police were contacted immediately after Public Safety became aware of the situation.

When police arrived, they were unable to speak to the student for a few hours because "he had a class he had to attend," according to police.

After reporting the incident to police, Public Safety contacted campus officials and sent out a safety alert.

"We wait to issue a safety report until we know we have all the facts correct," Furan said.

Furan said that is why there was a delay in posting an alert in response to the Sept. 16 report of a robbery.

"We had some confusion between the victim, Public Safety and police as to where the incident occurred," Furan said. "The victim had injuries to treat, and we couldn't reach him. We wanted to be accurate."

The confession

Furan said after the student filed the report with a police officer the case was handed over to an investigator within the next 10 days. That is when he told the investigator it was not true.

"There were many inconsistencies, so we decided to call him back in and that's when he confessed," Sgt. Jerry Edblad of the St. Cloud Police

Department said.

The consequences

Furan said the student will face no repercussions from Public Safety but may be held responsible by Student Life and Development and will be held responsible by the police department. "He will have off campus repercussions for filing a false police report," Furan said.

Edblad said filing a false report intending for police to act on it is a misdemeanor, which is punishable by a fine up to $900 and 90 days in jail at the discretion of the judge.

"He was issued a citation and will have to appear in court at a later date," Edblad said.

St. Cloud City Attorney Jan Petersen said his office has not yet received the case, but if a citation was issued it will be prosecuted.

Interim Vice President of Student Life and Development Mike Gillilan said he is looking into the incident.

"I do expect to review this matter to determine if there are Student Code of Conduct implications," he said. He also said knowingly giving false information to university personnel is a violation of the SCSU Student Code of Conduct.

Gillilan said he does not have all the information yet and will have to meet with the student as part of his review of the incident before he decides if he will take any action against him.

Gillilan said sanctions are determined on a case-by-case basis with the goals of educating and redirecting the student's behavior and protecting the educational community's ability to function. The range of possible sanctions can be found in the student handbook.

The motive

Edblad said the same student filed both the Sept. 16 and the Oct. 19 robbery reports. "He claims the first one did occur, but the second one was made up," Edblad said.

Edblad said the student's rational was that he had a confrontation during which he was hit and he felt embarrassed so he used the story to cover it up to his girlfriend.

Robberies on campus

The robbery claims this fall are the first since 2005, when there was one robbery reported on campus. According to Public Safety's security report there was also one robbery reported on public property in 2004.

"It's still a very safe environment," Furan said.