MAHONING VALLEY Teen faces charge of filing false report

Poland Village police are still investigating other matters connected to the party.
By JOHN W. GOODWIN JR.
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- A Columbiana teen is facing a misdemeanor charge in juvenile court after police say she lied about what happened at a party in the village eight months ago.
The 14-year-old girl has been charged with filing a false police report. She told authorities in early March that she had been drugged and raped while at a party attended by teens from around the area.
According to police reports, the girl told officers she and three of her friends went to the Skate Connection in Boardman Township, where they met a boy. He invited the group to a party at a residence in the 400 block of South Main Street here.
The girl, according to police, said she woke up later that night outside the party in her friend's car -- unaware of anything that had happened or how she got in the car. The girl later told her mother she had been drugged and raped. She was taken to Salem Community Hospital.
Conclusion
According to Poland Village Police Chief Russell Beatty, a doctor who examined the girl at the hospital concluded that there were no signs of rape or consensual sex. Police sent the girl's clothes and other items to the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation laboratory for testing.
Beatty said the test determines whether body fluids, hairs or any other types of undetected evidence are present. He said the test results, which take an average of six months to return, concluded there were no signs of rape.
Beatty said he has no idea why the girl told police and her mother that she had been raped. No one was ever arrested or charged.
At the time, Poland Township Police Chief Carl Massullo said officers had determined that teens at the party were using a variety of drugs. It is not known what, if anything, the girl had taken or had been given.
Beatty said police are still investigating other matters related to the party at the house, but he would not elaborate.