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Man Who Misidentified OU Sexual Assault Victim Talks
< < Back to man-who-misidentified-ou-sexual-assault-victim-talksAn Ohio University student falsely identified as a victim of an alleged sexual assault had her personal email addresses, links to her social media accounts and her parents names posted online by the website that misidentified her.
According to Athens Police, the female says she's been the victim of harassment from all over the world, including Australia.
"What we're trying to do here is just document what occurred to her and I think it helps her in her situation – clear her name and keeps us from having to comment on an open sexual assault investigation," said Athens police chief Tom Pyle.
Crimes Against Fathers is a website that claims it's interested in finding justice for men that have been falsely accused of crimes because of perjury. For the last two years, the way they've been raising awareness is through naming and shaming.
Peter Nolan, the founder of the website, created the site after he says his life was ruined when his wife committed perjury and falsely accused him of a crime. He says he's had the website for over five years trying to increase awareness. He says they have not always used naming and shaming but it was the only way to increase awareness about the problem.
WOUB decided not to release the name of the misidentified woman but referred to her in interviews with Nolan as "Sue."
"This 'Sue' bears strong resemblance to the one on the video so we ran with it and said we think it's the same person and we'd like to get to the bottom of this and we didn't think much more of it," said Nolan.
On the site WOUB found more than 10 photos of the misidentified student with titles like "false rape accuser" and "liar from Ohio University."
Other parts of the site condemn OU official Jenny-Hall Jones for confirming that the student was not the sexual assault victim saying she is "a criminal for covering up for the crime of making a false rape accusation."
Nolan says he does not trust OU or the police but if the student is not the sexual assault victim he will take responsibility for his actions.
"Absolutely, I'm accountable if it turns out not to be her. However, she and her parents have already taken the position that it's okay for women to commit perjury by never saying that it's not okay to commit perjury," Nolan said.
As for potentially holding Nolan accountable, APD says they have no jurisdiction but they are encouraging the woman to take full advantage of the civil process.
WOUB reached out to the misidentified student Wednesday for comment but have not heard back from her.