Fake attacks

February 2019 - Jussie Smollett - Racist and Homophobic Attack - Chiacago

Chicago police are pushing back on media reports that said the alleged attack on “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was a hoax and say the reports are “unconfirmed by case detectives.”

Two Chicago media outlets reported Thursday that multiple sources told them that investigators believe the attack was staged.

Police spent much of Thursday interviewing two persons of interest in the case, who are believed to have been seen on surveillance images on the night of the attack.

Chicago police say Jussie Smollett gave 'insufficient' phone records that were heavily redacted and do NOT prove he was talking to his manager at the time of racist, homophobic attack

• Smollett submitted phone records on Monday morning, two weeks after the attack
• They were redacted, according to police, and do not prove he was on the phone with his manager Brandon Z. Moore when he was jumped
• Moore submitted a screenshot of his call history on February 5 to prove their * He is the only person to have claimed to have heard or witnessed Smollett being attacked
• The frustrated Empire star hit out at police on Monday for suggesting that he had not been cooperative

“The new direction of the investigation is now based on the premise that Mr. Smollett was an active participant in the incident,” a law enforcement source close to the situation told Deadline today.

“We can confirm that the information received from the individuals questioned by police earlier in the Empire case has in fact shifted the trajectory of the investigation,” a Chicago PD statement late Saturday declared. “We’ve reached out to the ‘Empire’ cast member’s attorney to request a follow-up interview.”

November 2018 - Racist notes - Drake University

In mid-November, a Drake University student told school officials she had received four racist notes in one of the residence halls, at least one of which was addressed to her.

After a police and school investigation, the student, who has not been charged or named, admitted to writing one of the notes. The Des Moines Register reports that Drake officials “are confident the four notes reported by the female student were hoaxes.”

An 18-year-old Drake University student is responsible for four of five racist notes found in residence halls and now faces criminal charges, school officials said.

The student admitted to writing one of the notes, officials said. She also reported receiving at least one of the notes, officials said.

A Drake spokesman said officials are confident the four notes reported by the female student were hoaxes. A fifth note, received by a different student in early November, is not connected to the other four notes, now considered copycats, officials said.

November 2017 - Racial slurs - U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School

In late September, five black cadet candidates found racial slurs scrawled on message boards on their doors at the U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School. One candidate found the words “go home n‑‑‑‑‑‑” written outside his room, his mother posted on social media, according to the Air Force Times.

[...]

But on Tuesday, the school made a jolting announcement. The person responsible for the racist messages, the academy said, was, in fact, one of the cadet candidates who reported being targeted by them.

November 2017 - Racist graffiti - Riley County

A man who defaced his own car with racist graffiti and filed a false police report to Riley County Police Department will not face charges because “having done so would not be in the best interests of the citizens who comprise the Manhattan community.”

Dauntarius Williams, 21, of Manhattan, “was genuinely remorseful and expressed sincere regret” of the negative media attention received as a result of his actions, Riley County Police Department said in a Nov. 6 release.

November 2014 - Jackie Coakley - "A Rape on Campus" - University of Virginia

Rolling Stone magazine retracted its article about a brutal gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity after the release of a report on Sunday that concluded the widely discredited piece was the result of failures at every stage of the process.

The report, published by the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism and commissioned by Rolling Stone, said the magazine failed to engage in “basic, even routine journalistic practice” to verify details of the ordeal that the magazine’s source, identified only as Jackie, described to the article’s author, Sabrina Rubin Erdely.

Rolling Stone has agreed to settle a defamation lawsuit brought by the University of Virginia fraternity at the center of a discredited article about an alleged gang rape, effectively closing the door on a pivotal and damaging chapter in the magazine’s history.

Under the terms of the settlement, the magazine agreed to pay the Virginia Alpha Chapter of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity $1.65 million. The fraternity had originally sought a trial by jury and $25 million in damages.

August 2012 - Charlie Rogers - Homophobia - Omaha

Three masked men allegedly bound Rogers and carved homophobic slurs into her skin Sunday, Lincoln police said. The incident has been classified as a hate crime because derogatory terms for lesbians were used, said Officer Katie Flood, a spokeswoman for the Lincoln Police Department.

But the Lincoln Police Department said Tuesday that "the physical evidence conflicted with Charlie Rogers' version of events" and that "extensive investigation revealed numerous inconsistencies."

Rogers was arrested Tuesday, police said.

Her attorney, Brett McArthur, told CNN Tuesday night that Rogers had agreed as part of an arrangement to turn herself in, in exchange for a personal recognizance bond.

March 2006 - Duke lacrosse Rape

The Duke Lacrosse Case was a widely reported 2006 criminal case in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The case evoked varied responses from the media, faculty groups, students, the community, and others. The case's resolution sparked public discussion of racism, media bias, and due process on campuses, and ultimately led to the resignation and disbarment of the lead prosecutor, Durham County District Attorney Mike Nifong.