Martinez, her friend and two co-workers eventually told police the whole thing was a setup to convince Martinez’s husband that they needed to move from a blighted, high-crime area three miles north of the state Capital.
This photo provided by the Sacramento Police Dept. shows Laurie Ann Martinez. Martinez has been charged with faking her own rape in an unsuccessful bid to persuade her husband to move to a safer neighborhood in Sacramento, Calif.
She split her own lip with a pin, scraped her knuckles with sandpaper and had her friend punch her in the face. Investigators say she even ripped open her blouse, then wet her pants to give the appearance she had been knocked unconscious.
But it was all part of what authorities said Friday was an elaborate hoax by the woman to convince her husband she was raped so they could move to a safer neighborhood.
Charges filed by the Sacramento County district attorney allege Laurie Ann Martinez, a prison psychologist, conspired with the friend to create the appearance that she was beaten, robbed and raped by a stranger in April in her Sacramento home.
Martinez, her friend and two co-workers eventually told police the whole thing was a setup to convince Martinez’s husband that they needed to move from a blighted, high-crime area three miles north of the state Capitol.
It didn’t work. Instead, the couple filed for divorce six weeks after the April 10 incident, according to court records.
“If all you wanted to do is move, there’s other ways than staging a burglary and rape,” said Sacramento police Sgt. Andrew Pettit. “She went to great lengths to make this appear real.”
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