Former TV Weatherperson Heidi Jones Pleads Guilty To Faking Attack Story

Former WABC-TV Weatherperson Heidi Jones Pleads Guilty To Faking Rape Story

September 14, 2011 8:37 PM

Heidi Jones outside a Manhattan courthouse on Jan. 5, 2011 (Photo/Juliet Papa)

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NEW YORK (WCBS 880/AP) - Former Eyewitness News weatherperson Heidi Jones has admitted she made up claims of being sexually assaulted twice in New York City — claims that sparked an extensive police investigation.

WCBS 880′s Irene Cornell On The Case

Jones, 38, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two misdemeanor counts of falsely reporting an incident. The judge says she will be sentenced to three years’ probation and 350 hours of community service — the same amount of time prosecutors say police spent looking into her phony claims.

“This has been a tragic case for Heidi Jones. She was at the pinnacle of the broadcast industry at ABC and Good Morning America and her life has really been destroyed, her professional life, by this incident, and Heidi, from the moment I first met with her, she wanted to accept personal responsibility for what she had done,” said defense attorney Paul Callan.

Jones told police on Dec. 1 a man had attacked her in Central Park last September and again outside her apartment in November.

Ultimately, when a detective spoke to Jones again around midnight on Dec. 13, she admitted she’d fabricated the assaults, the court complaint said.

“I made it up for attention. I have so much stress at work, with my personal life and with my family,” she said, according to the document.

Jones no longer works at New York’s local ABC station. Her lawyer declined to comment on the circumstances of her departure.

She previously worked in cities including Albany, N.Y., and Houston.

She also has filled in on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Jones is due to be sentenced Oct. 26.

(TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2011 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

Former WABC TV Weatherperson Heidi Jones Pleads Guilty To Faking Rape Story

REAL TRUTH

THE LYING BIT*H SHOULD GET JAIL TIME.
http://thecryptojournalist.wordpress.com The Cryptojournalist

A TV news personality creating a fiction? Yeah, sounds about right.

http://rhymeandreasonable.com

Also, the ‘Some Puerto Rican guy’ angle? Totally bogarted from South Park
I’ll handle this…

She needs to be spanked and j i z z l e d.
HR

There’s a job opening at the Sofitel Hotel. It’s a house keeper position.
This could help her income requirements during these troubled times.

A word of advice: Don’t enter an occupied guest room!
mj

not to worry .. se has a great future ahead of her as a poliotician

Hillary Clinton, Liar

“I remember coming under sniper fire as we landed…”

BigAppleGuy

Maybe she has Attention Deficit Disorder lol. Really, what a DmAs she must be in RL. She was already on TV. How much more attention did this RchBch need? I think a psych evaluation should have been part of her sentence as there is obviously something wrong with her to pull not one but two stunts like that.
mojorisin

This goes to show that women can get away with anything nowadays just because they are female. Instead they get a deal with Playboy.

rockwayvw

she’s gonna be in Playboy?! …cool

Joey Hardway

She should try the Porn Industry!!!

Bman

GOT OFF SCOTT FREE>…… WHAT F C KED UP STORY ! SHE SHOULD of GOTTEN SOME SERIOUS JAILTIME>>> GOOD TO BE WHITE AND HAVE $!
roy

You failed to mention that she blamed it on a puerto rican ..I guess thats okay…someone could have been locked up for her lie.Just another day in new york city.

Claude

It’s bad enough when someone falsely claims to be a victim, but worse still when the lie promotes racial and ethnic stereotypes.
MIKE

EXACTLY!!!! IF SHE WOULD NOT HAVE COME CLEAN SOME POOR HISPANIC GUY WOULD HAVE BEEN LABELED A RAPIST…CRIMINAL…THE MAYOR WOULD HAVE BEEN ON TY DEGRADIMG THE GUY.

UNBELIEVABLE!

LETS NOT FORGET THE CENTRAL PARK JOGGERS…THE REAL PERSON CONFESSED, BUT YOU SEE WHAT HAPPENED TO THOSE 5 YOUNG CHILDREN AT THAT TIME!!

Claude

Very sad that she trashed her career for nothing. How can a person who earns her living in front of a camera be so starved for attention?
No Angel Myself

No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes.
Ben

What if someone was charged for what she says happened to her? What about the hundreds of women this has REALLY happened to I’m sure they would love to say, opps, you know what I wasn’t really attacked. How unfair to them, and we tax paying citizens who had to pay someone to follow her lies.
too bad

She is a hottie