It started with a USD student reporting her former boyfriend to the police for threatening text messages but ended with her arrest.
On Nov. 24, 18-year-old USD student Shelby Harkness was arrested for falsely reporting her former boyfriend had been harassing her with text messages, Vermillion Police Chief Art Mabry said in a Dec. 1 press release.
Mabry said Harkness called USD Public Safety to report the alleged text messages and also told them she had seen the alleged suspect, a Nebraska resident, at the DakotaDome and hid after seeing him.
After public safety and the police department searched the campus for the suspect, Nebraska law enforcement was contacted. Mabry said Nebraska authorities reported the ex-boyfriend’s vehicle was still at his residence.
The investigation revealed Harkness had made up the story about the text messages and observing him in the area, Mabry said.
Making a false report is a class one misdemeanor and is punishable by up to one year in county jail and/or a $2,000 fine.
False report cases like this one have been on the rise recently in Vermillion, Mabry said. The types of accusations falsely reported tend to involve significant others, former relationships and child custody issues, he said.
‘In the past the numbers were so few that we didn’t typically reclassify the case or seek charges. It has only been the last couple of years that we have noticed the increase,’ Mabry said.
Harkness was charged with false reporting and has an appearance scheduled in court on Jan. 26 at 9:30 a.m., said Teddi Gertsma, Clay County state’s attorney.
Harkness declined to comment for the article.
Mabry said the case involving Harkness and her former boyfriend, like other false report cases, required immediate and substantial law enforcement resources. He said because this case occupied police department resources, other cases and responsibilities received less attention until this case was solved.
False reports affect public safety on campus in this way as well, said USD Public Safety Sgt. Sam Nelsen.
‘Any call that comes in, we have to follow up on it and respond,’ Nelsen said. ‘It can waste hours and hours of our time. We take all that stuff seriously.’
Mabry said wasted resources are not the only effect of a false report.
‘In addition to wasted resources, people’s lives can be ruined by these allegations, even when they are proved to be false,’ Mabry said. ‘Educational opportunities such as medical or law school, employment and relationships are often lost for both the person making the false allegation and the victim of the allegation.’
Nelsen said depending on what crime a person has been falsely accused of, the charge can affect the victim for their entire life.
‘That stuff can follow you for quite along time. For ever and ever your name is on a police report even if it ends up being a false reporting situation,’ Nelsen said.
Nelsen said these situations hurt the victims when their names come up in a background check for a job or some other situation, as the report will appear with their name on it as being involved in an illegal incident.
Third-year law student Trevor Thielen agreed.
‘At a minimum, (being a victim of a false report) could damage your reputation,’ he said. ‘At a maximum, a person may end up being convicted of a crime they didn’t commit.’
Nelsen said the reasons for why people falsely report crimes elude him.
‘I can’t speak for why people do this. Sometimes people report false things in good faith and sometimes I think they know it is a lie,’ Nelsen said. ‘If we know that you were lying, then your going to get charged.’
Reach reporter Chris Jessen at Chris.Jessen@usd.edu
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