Woman Ordered To Trial On False Rape Report
PORT HURON (WWJ/AP) - A Port Huron-area woman charged with making a false report of rape and tampering with evidence was ordered to stand trial Tuesday after a doctor said her purported bruises faded after he wiped them with gauze.
Sara Ylen accused two men of sexual assault at her Lexington home last September, saying she was taking a nap when she was bound and raped. But authorities say the attack didn't happen.
Ylen, 38, went to police eight days later and was subsequently examined by Dr. William Starbird. He testified that he cleaned what appeared to be lacerations and bruises on her face with gauze.
"The bruising started to disappear," Starbird testified. He said he later found a discarded makeup compact in the exam room.
District Court Judge John Monaghan said there was enough evidence to send the case to trial in St. Clair County Circuit Court. Prosecutor Suzette Samuels presented five witnesses but said she could have summoned 30 more to buttress her case, the Port Huron Times Herald reported.
"Her injuries would have been a critical part of the evidence," Samuels said. "She tampered with that evidence."
Ylen's credibility has been questioned before. James Grissom, convicted in 2003 of raping her, was released last fall after nearly 10 years in prison. He was granted a new trial after authorities learned that Ylen had made false allegations of rape in California, information that wasn't shared with Grissom's trial attorney.
The St. Clair County prosecutor declined to put him on trial again.
In another pending case, Ylen is charged with fraud in Sanilac County. She's accused of deceiving an insurance company and the public into believing she had cancer. A probable cause hearing is set for July 9.
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