Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Surveillance video showed Renee Dawn Skoglund buying the rope she claimed she was tied up with at Walmart as prosecutors claim she lied in order to get a free STD test
A South Dakota woman has plead guilty to making a false police report after claiming she had been raped in Florida, authorities say.
Thirty-year-old Renee Dawn Skoglund was arrested earlier this year in Sioux Falls on March 10 just two days after she had first reported the sexual assault in Hillsborough County.
Skoglund was charged with fabricating evidence, false report of a crime, and misuse of a 911 emergency system.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office released audio of the 911 call in which Skoglund told dispatchers she pulled to the side of I-75 due to car trouble. She then claimed that a male assailant had pulled a cloth over her head, bound her with rope and raped her in the vehicle.
Skoglund had described the type of rope used in the alleged attack, a product authorities learned was sold at Walmart stores in the area.
Local police then conducted a meticulous search of local Walmarts and discovered surveillance footage of Skoglund buying the rope she had detailed in her report.
"Following this discovery, detectives recovered video from multiple places Mrs. Skoglund visited in the time surrounding the attack, refuting her initial statements," Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office said in a statement. "[Skoglund] attempted to change her statements before eventually admitting to fabricating the entire incident."
Skoglund is believed by authorities to have fabricated the rape in order to get a free STD test, per FOX 13 Tampa Bay. She was married at the time of the incident.
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office
"She had consensual sexual intercourse with an individual in Hillsborough County," prosecutor Jessica Couvertier said in court. "Then she felt guilty about it because of her marital status, and she wanted to get checked out for a sexually transmitted disease."
"This case is truly disheartening," Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a press release back in May. "There are far too many victims faced with this type of trauma. This woman took advantage of our 911 emergency line and diverted attention from actual victims who need the viable resources available in these investigative scenarios."
FOX 13 reports that Skoglund was sentenced to two years of community control (a type of house arrest) and eight years probation. Additionally, for the resources she used in filing the false report Skoglund owes the sheriff's office $17,245.26.
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