False rape reporting case dropped

The student who recanted a report of being raped at the IU-Purdue men's basketball game in February avoided charges for false informing of a crime. \nSophomore Mary Bray pleaded guilty Thursday to a class C misdemeanor for illegal consumption of alcohol. The charges cited for false informing were dropped as a result of the plea agreement. \nMonroe County Circuit Judge Marc Kellams sentenced Bray with one year of probation and 35 hours of public restitution with a 60-day suspension, according to court documents. \n"We felt that (dropping the false reporting charge) was the appropriate thing for us to do," said Monroe County Prosecutor Carl Salzmann. "Additional facts (were) brought to bear to us from the defense." \nSalzmann would not comment on the specifics of those facts. \nPolice apprehended Bray Feb. 22 after witnesses reported that a female spectator had vomited on a young boy seated in the row below her, on her own clothing and on the aisle steps as she staggered toward the restroom, according to police reports. \nWitnesses claimed the student was noticeably intoxicated and needed the assistance of a male friend to get down the stairs. \nAn IU Police Department cadet and an EMT found Bray in an Assembly Hall bathroom stall and immediately took her to Bloomington Hospital. Police say she told a nurse she had been drugged and raped while she was in the restroom. When the hospital administered a rape kit test, the results came back negative, according to the report. \nPolice cited Bray with illegal consumption and added a charge of false informing when she confessed the rape claim was erroneous during a later interview. \n"The timeline just seemed off," IUPD Lt. Jerry Minger told the Indiana Daily Student in March. "Between the various accounts of people who spotted her, we realized that it was virtually impossible for this incident to have occurred"