Op-Ed: Rape liar Angela Gilbert pleads no contest

Portland - A Portland woman who filed a false rape allegation has been sentenced to 80 hours of community service, fined $1,000 and ordered to undergo psychiatric and drug treatment. Some false rape allegations have far more serious consequences.

False rape allegations are surprisingly common, not as common as genuine ones, but every false allegation of rape has an adverse reaction for genuine rape and other crime victims. This is why wilfully false allegations are treated so seriously by both the police and the courts. While the police are out chasing phantom rapists, real crimes are going uninvestigated and perhaps unsolved. False rape allegations can also have devastating effects on the lives of innocent people, not only men. In Portland, Oregon, rape liar Angela Gilbert pleaded no contest to a charge of filing a false report while out hiking. She was sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to pay $1,000 to the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, in effect a fine. Prosecutor Don Rees said he didn't know why she fabricated the story, but the court appears to have taken the view that she has some sort of psychological issues and in addition to performing 80 hours of community service, she was ordered to undergo psychiatric and drug treatment. This is apparently not the first time Angela Gilbert has filed a false allegation; previously she claimed to have been robbed while out shopping, although no action was taken in that case. The issue of wasting police time is particularly relevant to this case, because shortly before Angela Gilbert appeared in court, Portland police had a real rapist on their hands. A woman was attacked in a park but managed to fight back, and fortunately, people came to her assistance. According to a press release, 24 year old Kenneth Wayne Couch has now been charged with third degree robbery, two counts of strangulation, and one count of rape. A far more serious false rape allegation than that made by Angela Gilbert was reported last month by The Times Of India; this case prompted some strong words from the judge: "Such alleged (fake) victims of rape are potentially dangerous to the society in the sense that from tomorrow onwards the general public as well as the courts will start disbelieving the version given by even the real victims of rape". This appears to have been a truly bizarre cases, but sadly it is by no means exceptional; on occasion, false allegations can even be based on a folie à deux with two or even several complainants, or people going to extraordinary lengths to defend or even to promote the "victim's" story, something that landed a certain Robert Green in hot water with the Scottish courts. An excellent analysis of the damage false rape allegations can do was made by Neil Monnery last month. The consequences can though be far more serious for the innocent victim, and even for the accuser than reported in this article. As for Angela Gilbert, let us hope this wretched woman doesn't make any more false allegations, especially against a named individual. That, along with her previous history as a shameless liar, could land her in real trouble.