Acid Attack Hoax "Victim" Bethany Storro Charged with Theft
VANCOUVER, Wash. (CBS/AP/KOIN) Prosecuting attorneys have filed theft charges against Bethany Storro, the Vancouver woman who falsely claimed someone threw acid in her face in late August.
PICTURES: Bethany Storro, Acid Attack "Victim"
The felony second-degree charges filed Monday by Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Tony Golik relate to donations collected for Storro after she was chemically burned Aug. 30.
According to the probable cause documents filed by Vancouver police, fundraisers for Storro reportedly raised $28,000, of which Storro apparently spent about $1,500 on dinner for her parents, clothes for herself and a bill for a previous laser facial peel. Police said Storro spent some of the funds she collected on a new computer and a trip to Seattle, reports KOIN.
In a statement to media Friday, Storro's parents, Nancy and Joe Neuwelt, claimed that the money donated to their daughter would be returned "in the appropriate manner."
"The aggravator is that the defendant, Ms. Storro, took money from victims who were acting as good Samaritans when they gave the money," said Golik.
Golik told The Associated Press in a telephone interview that he issued an arrest warrant for Storro. But he said she was hospitalized as of Monday evening. He didn't know why, but he said police knew her location.
The prosecutor said he would leave it up to the lead detective to decide when to arrest the 28-year-old woman.
Storro originally told police an African American woman approached her Aug. 30 outside a Starbucks in downtown Vancouver and asked, "Hey pretty girl, want something to drink?," before throwing acid in her face.
But Storro's story began to come undone when investigators questioned "discrepancies" in her account of the event. She eventually broke down and confessed to purchasing drain cleaner from a local hardware before applying the acid-like substance to her face in an effort to commit suicide, reports KOIN.
Storro's parents apologized Friday for their daughter's distasteful hoax that garnered worldwide attention and sympathy.
"She's obviously dealing with some deep internal emotional and psychological problems that we had no knowledge of," said mother Nancy as she stood with her husband Joe outside their Vancouver home Friday. "We hope that she'll get the help that she needs."
Storro said she was trying to kill herself when she put what is believed to be caustic drain cleaner on her face, according to a police affidavit filed in Clark County Superior Court.
Vancouver police Cmdr. Marla Schuman described Storro last week as "very remorseful."
"In many ways this is something that just got bigger than what she expected," Schuman.
If convicted of the charges, she could spend a maximum of five years in jail.
Complete Coverage of Bethany Storro on Crimesider.
