Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss--A continuing investigation by Mississippi State's police department has determined that a campus crime reported earlier by a male student was false.
As a result, the unnamed student now is being charged with filing a false police report, said Thomas Bourgeois, the university's dean of students.
The student had told investigators that he was abducted and robbed by two men Friday night [April 23] near Cobb Institute of Archaeology on Lee Boulevard.
"Filing a false report is a serious charge," Bourgeois said, adding that conviction can result in up to a $1,000 fine and a year in prison.
He said false reports are dangerous to the general campus population because they unnecessarily can divert valuable police resources, among other reasons.
"We treat false reports as seriously as we treat crime reports," Bourgeois said.
For more information about Mississippi State University, see http://www.msstate.edu/.