A 20-year-old woman falsely claimed she was attacked and nearly raped at a Pennsylvania shopping center on April 16, leading to the arrest and imprisonment of an innocent man, according to the police. She now faces charges after law enforcement discovered she fabricated the incident.
Anjela Borisova Urumova of Bristol Township “admitted to police that she lied about an April 16 attack in the parking lot of Redner’s in Middletown Township last month,” ABC6 reported.
The police dropped all charges against Daniel Pierson, who they arrested based on Urumova’s description of the suspect. He spent 31 days in jail for the offense.
The woman claimed a man “attacked her from behind, pulled down her pants, punched her in the face and then tried to carry her toward his pickup truck before she broke free and he got back into his truck,” according to the Bucks County Courier Times.
The police picked Pierson up after finding his pickup truck, which matched the vehicle Urumova described as belonging to her attacker. License plate readers captured the vehicle “a quarter-mile away minutes before the attack,” the outlet reported. (RELATED: ‘Take His Money’: Former MLB Pitcher Reveals Rape Accuser’s Alleged Texts Following Settlement)
Middletown police showed the supposed victim photos of eight men and she identified Pierson, claiming she was “60% sure” he was her assailant, according to the affidavit used to arrest the suspect. She later stated his mug shot was “definitely the subject who attacked her,” according to the affidavit.
Pierson was arrested the next day and faced multiple charges, including attempted rape and kidnapping. He was held in jail on $1 million bail. He was released on May 17 after the charges were dropped.
A 20-year-old woman is out on bail after investigators say she admitted to lying about an attempted rape and kidnapping in the parking lot of a grocery store in Middletown last month. https://t.co/4X1C484JGg
— FOX 29 (@FOX29philly) May 21, 2024
Police began doubting Urumova’s story after accessing data from her iPhone and surveillance video in the parking lot, which contradicted her tale. ABC6 explained that “During a second meeting with police on May 17, authorities say Urumova admitted that she lied about the entire incident and that no assault occurred in the Redner’s parking lot on April 16.”
She said she identified Pierson as the assailant because she saw him and his truck “in the parking lot of her previous employer in the past and thought he was ‘creepy’.”
Uromova explained that an injury on her lip she attributed to the assault was actually sustained during “an altercation with a family member,” according to ABC6. She said she planned to admit to lying before the matter went to court.
She is being charged with several counts related to false alarm to an agency of public safety, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, false reports and unsworn falsification to authorities. Urumova was sent to Bucks County Correctional Center but has now been released on bail.
