| For Immediate Release November 8, 2006 |
Contact: | Susan Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel (714) 347-8408 Office (714) 292-2718 Cell |
DANA POINT WOMAN TO BE SENTENCED FOR FALSELY ACCUSING SIX MEN OF RAPE
SANTA ANA – A Dana Point woman will be sentenced tomorrow for falsely accusing six men of kidnapping and raping her. Tamara Anne Moonier, 29, pled guilty to the court to felony grand theft, perjury, and presenting a false claim to the state charges, and one misdemeanor count of making a false police report. She is facing up to one year in jail based on her plea agreement. The maximum sentence for this crime without a plea agreement would be three years and eight months in prison. Moonier is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow, November 9, 2006 at 8:30 a.m. in Department C-36, Central Justice Center, Santa Ana.
On June 6, 2004, Moonier went to the police and falsely reported that she had been kidnapped at gun point by one man a few hours earlier outside of a bar in Fullerton. She lied to police and said that she had been taken to an unknown location where she was raped repeatedly at gun point by six men. Moonier claimed she had never seen the men prior to the attack, but was able to identify them through a photo line up. While the case was under investigation, Moonier applied for emergency state funds that are made available to the victims of crimes and received a check for $1,850. She signed under penalty of perjury that her claims were true.
The case was investigated by the Fullerton Police Department. One of the accused men provided a video tape of the encounter. The 40-minute tape, which was shown to the Grand Jury during the indictment, showed Moonier actively participating and orchestrating the sexual encounters. The tape clearly contradicted her rape accusations against the men.
“Moonier could have put six innocent men in prison for the rest of their lives for a crime they did not commit,” said Deputy District Attorney Paul Chrisopoulos, who prosecuted the case. “The funds that Ms. Moonier received are reserved for the victims of crimes to be used for emergency relocation, hospital bills and counseling. When the funds are used fraudulently, it hurts the availability of resources for true victims.”
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