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False report charge alleged

Woman, 20, claimed she was groped at store

From Mirror staff reports

A 20-year-old Altoona woman who police said made up a story about three men groping her at a city convenience store now faces criminal charges.

Victoria M. Winfield, 20, of 250 Lewis Drive was charged Tuesday by Altoona police with a misdemeanor count of false reports to police after an investigation allegedly revealed Winfield fabricated getting groped by three men at the Sheetz store at 1915 Pleasant Valley Blvd.

Winfield allegedly reported to police on Dec. 3 that she was at the store about 7 p.m. when three men in their early 20s began to make “cat calls” toward her as she walked out of the store before they cornered and groped her.

According to the charges, the Altoona police officer who took the report noted that Winfield was vague in her description of the men and when asked what they said to her, she answered that she wasn’t sure. When the officer asked Winfield how the men touched her and where on her body, “Winfield immediately be­came highly agitated and snapped, ‘All over,'” Al­toona police Detective Sgt. Terry Merritts wrote in the charges.

Police said Winfield, who then became quiet and avoided eye contact with the officer, asked, “Am I going to be in trouble?” after she was told the store’s video surveillance footage would be reviewed, a report would be made and the incident would be investigated.

A check of the security footage showed Winfield only had contact with one person when she was in the store and that was a female cashier.

When questioned about the incident on Dec. 6, Winfield claimed she had been raped twice in the past — once while in college and once by a pastor. Police noted she told Merritts that the police at the college accused her of lying and the alleged incident with the pastor was not in Altoona and didn’t involve police.

Winfield allegedly repeated her story of getting groped in the store until she was confronted with the video footage that showed she wasn’t accosted, police said.

Ultimately, Winfield said it was her boyfriend who insisted she call the police after she told him about the alleged groping and said she must have had a “flashback” to one of the two earlier sexual assaults. Winfield went on to claim to the detective that she often has “flashbacks.” Police said Winfield’s live-in boyfriend, who was with her when she spoke to the detective, said it was the first time he had heard of this.

Winfield allegedly admitted she knew she was making up the story when she initially reported it to police and she blamed her diagnosed anxiety, depression and post traumatic stress disorder for why she fabricated the crime.

Winfield was charged by summons and is scheduled to appear on Jan. 9 for a preliminary hearing at Central Court.

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