(AP) Mich. woman ordered to trial on false rape report
PORT HURON, Mich.
A Michigan woman accused of faking a sexual assault was ordered to stand trial on charges of making a false report of rape and tampering with evidence Tuesday after a doctor said her purported bruises faded after he wiped them with gauze.
Sara Ylen accused two men of sexual assault at her Lexington home last September, saying she was taking a nap when she was bound and raped. But authorities say the attack didn’t happen.
Ylen is also accused of lying about having cancer in a separate case in Sanilac County. She’s charged with fraud for allegedly tricking an insurance company and sympathetic supporters. A probable cause hearing is set for July 9
In the rape case in neighboring St. Clair County, Prosecutor Suzette Samuels presented five witnesses but said she could have summoned 30 more to buttress her allegations, the Port Huron Times Herald reported (http://bwne.ws/10v35vd).
Ylen, 38, went to police eight days after the purported attack and was subsequently examined by Dr. William Starbird. He testified that he cleaned what appeared to be lacerations and bruises on her face with gauze.
“The bruising started to disappear,” Starbird testified.
He said he later found a discarded makeup compact in the exam room.
District Court Judge John Monaghan said there was enough evidence to send the case to trial in St. Clair County Circuit Court.
Ylen’s credibility has been questioned before. James Grissom, convicted in 2003 of raping her, was released last fall after nearly 10 years in prison. He was granted a new trial after authorities learned that Ylen had made false allegations of rape in California, information that wasn’t shared with Grissom’s trial attorney.
The St. Clair County prosecutor declined to put him on trial again.
___
Information from: Times Herald, http://www.thetimesherald.com