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UA Student Pleads Not Guilty To Faking Campus Sex Assault

The University of Arkansas student accused of faking a sexual assault report pleaded not guilty Friday in Washington County. Julia Garcia pleaded not guilty to ...
garcia julia

The University of Arkansas student accused of faking a sexual assault report pleaded not guilty Friday in Washington County.

Julia Garcia pleaded not guilty to filing a false police report and received a trial date of July 30 in Judge Mark Lindsay’s courtroom, according to the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office.

The suspect was arrested April 30 on suspicion of filing a false police report. She was released from the Washington County Detention Center without bond the same day, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman told police April 27 she was sexually assaulted in the Garland Avenue parking garage on the University of Arkansas campus. Officers immediately began searching for her alleged assailant, a 6-foot-tall man with a muscular build, according to the University of Arkansas Police Department.

Investigators used the video of the Garland Avenue parking garage from April 27 to determine Garcia’s report about being sexually assaulted there was false, according to a preliminary report released by UAPD.

After detectives approached Garcia about the video evidence, she recanted parts of her sexual assault report and admitted she lied about some aspects of the statement she gave police, according to the preliminary report.

Garcia told police she was attacked from behind about 8:30 p.m. in the parking garage by a man wearing a black ski mask and a long-sleeved black t-shirt, according to a campus safety notification issued April 28.

The suspect allegedly forced the woman against a rail between the first and second levels of the garage in the west stairwell, the notification states. Garcia also said the man was wearing dark blue jeans and brown work boots, police said.

Garcia told officers she kicked her assailant and escaped, according to the notification.

Garcia is listed as a freshman on the UA’s online directory. She is also listed as a UA student on her Facebook profile.

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