'Deeply destructive crime;' Stanford employee accused of lying about campus rapes
An employee at Stanford University has been arrested and accused of lying about being raped on campus twice last year, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
The employee was identified as 25-year-old Jennifer Gries of Santa Clara who is listed on the university's website as a Housing Service Center Supervisor. The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office said Gries was arrested on Wednesday morning and is facing felony perjury and other charges.
According to a press statement from the DA's office, on August 9, 2022, Gries told a county sexual forensic exam nurse at Stanford Hospital she had been raped in the Munger Residence Hall restroom, describing the unknown assailant as in his "late 20s, Black male." Gries reported that the assailant approached her when she was walking to her car parked in the Wilbur parking garage, grabbed her, told her not to scream, and raped her.
Gries told the nurse she didn't want police to contact her at that time, although she signed a consent form acknowledging the nurse is a mandated reporter who must notify law enforcement.
On October 7, 2022, Gries again went to Stanford Hospital to get another rape examination, telling the nurse that she was coming back from lunch to her front office and an unknown male grabbed her arm, forced her into a basement storage closet, and raped her, the DA's office said. She described him as a Black male, slender, young, six feet, and in his late 20s. Gries again signed a consent form acknowledging the nurse was a mandated reporter.
The DA's office said an investigation by Stanford Dept. of Public Safety revealed Gries had made a recent sexual harassment complaint against a coworker who fit the description of the alleged rapist. Gries told an acquaintance she was in a relationship with the man and was sexually assaulted by him, becoming pregnant with twins. Gries also allegedly claimed to have suffered a miscarriage. The DA's office said the investigation revealed that she was not pregnant at that time.
Neither of the lab results were consistent with Gries stories, the DA's office said. The rape reports triggered campus-wide safety alerts and campus unrest.
"This is a rare and deeply destructive crime," said District Attorney Jeff Rosen in a prepared statement. "Our hearts go out to the falsely accused. Our hearts go out to students who had to look over their shoulders on their way to class. Our hearts go out to legitimate sexual assault victims who wonder if they will be believed."
The DA's office said Gries twice applied under penalty of perjury to get public money from the California Victim of Crimes Board, attesting that she was sexually assaulted.
In January, an investigator with the DA's office interviewed Gries, during which she wrote a letter of apology to the victim who she had named as her assailant, the DA's office said.
Gries was to be arraigned at a later date in the Hall of Justice in San Jose.
