Muncey gets 30 days for false rape charge
A woman who falsely claimed her ex-husband participated in a gang rape will serve 30 days behind bars for filing the false report.
The defendant, Crystal Muncey, entered a guilty plea Wednesday before Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to the charge of filing a false report. She will serve 30 days of a three-year sentence, with the balance of her sentence to be served on the community corrections program.
The incident in question happened in October 2001 when Muncey told police she had been raped by her ex-husband and another man. In her original statement, Muncey told police she was walking down South Chancery Street when her ex-husband and another man forced her into a vehicle. Muncey said they then took her to a wooded area and took turns raping her at knife point.
Police were immediately suspicious of the woman’s story after she claimed her shirt was cut with a knife by her alleged attackers. Investigators had learned Muncey’s shirt had actually been torn earlier in the evening during a fight with another woman. Police also talked to the suspects and were convinced the men were innocent of the charges.
Muncey requested police drop the investigation of the alleged rape after being confronted about what investigators had learned. The defendant later broke down and admitted she had made the story up in hopes of forcing her ex-husband to leave her alone.
Had the men went to trial and been wrongly convicted, they could have faced 15 to 25 years in prison.