Stanford University Employee Lied About Rapes: Police

Rape reports had led hundreds of students to march in October demanding more protection
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Mar 16, 2023 12:19 AM CDT
Stanford University Employee Lied About Rapes: Police
FILE - Pedestrians walk on the campus at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., April 9, 2019.   (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

A 25-year-old Stanford University employee was arrested Wednesday and charged with felony perjury for allegedly lying about being raped twice last year on campus, the AP reports. Jennifer Ann Gries of Santa Clara first reported a false sexual attack in August when she told a nurse at Valley Medical Center in San Jose that a man grabbed her while she was at a campus parking lot, dragged her to a restroom and sexually assaulted her, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's office said. In October she went to Stanford Hospital to get another rape examination and told the nurse conducting the exam that she was returning to her office from lunch when a man grabbed her arm, forced her into a basement storage closet and raped her, prosecutors said. She again declined to speak with police, they said.

Both of Gries’ sexual assault examination kits were analyzed quickly “given the extreme public safety risk of a potential sex offender,” prosecutors said, adding that the lab results “were not consistent with her story.” On both occasions she signed a consent form acknowledging the nurse was a mandated reporter who must inform law enforcement of the attack and signed forms to get public funds, prosecutors said. In January, during an interview with a District Attorney’s Office investigator, Gries is said to have admitted to lying about the rapes and written an apology letter to the man who was the target of her allegations. “She stated she was upset with the victim because she felt he gave her ‘false intention’ and turned her friends against her,” prosecutors said.

Investigators also found Gries, who is listed on the university’s website as a Housing Service Center Supervisor, had filed a sexual harassment complaint in March 2022 against a male coworker with the university's human resources department, which found the allegation was unfounded, prosecutors said. The co-worker fit the description Gries gave the nurses she reported the rapes to, they said. In a statement, Stanford said Gries was placed on a leave of absence and the university “will be reviewing her employment.” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen called the alleged false rape reports “a rare and deeply destructive crime” and said he felt for those who are falsely accused, for the students who had to look over their shoulders, and for the ”legitimate sexual assault victims who wonder if they will be believed.”

(More Stanford University stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X