21-Year-Old Student Gets Jail Time For Lying About Rape
21-year-old Michigan college student Mary Zolkowski has been put in jail for claiming that she was attacked and raped at her university campus.
Zolkowski admitted to police that she had lied when she made an allegation in February 2017 that she was attacked and raped in a parking lot of Delta College. Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran sentenced Zolkowski to 45 days in prison, and an additional 220 days deferred – meaning that if she violates her probation, she’ll have to serve them.
At a hearing in March, Zolkowski avoided a 4 year jail term and a $2,000 fine by pleading guilty to making a false report. This sentence comes despite Judge Sheeran stating that he wouldn’t impose any jail time.
The incident was originally reported by Zolkowski’s mother, as Zolkowski said in the court; “I called Delta College and falsely reported the rape on their campus. My mother made the initial call and I took the phone and continued to report.”
In the report, Zolkowski told police that she saw her attackers hands but “kind of blacked out.” When police launched a lengthy investigation into the supposed incident, they started noticing discrepancies. This started when Zolkowski refused a medical examination, and injuries Zolkowski had did not match up to her claim.
Zolkowski told authorities that she went into Delta College the following day to drop the studies she was taking, however in the investigation police learned that Zolkowski actually dropped the courses shortly before reporting the alleged rape. When authorities confronted Zolkowski about this, she changed her story saying she was raped by an acquaintance.
The acquaintance that allegedly raped Zolkowski was interviewed and showed authorities text messages between himself and Zolkowski, which revealed that Zolkowski told him that she was raped outside of a Walmart store on the same night as her alleged rape in a Delta College parking lot.
