A Toledo woman accused of calling 911 on her husband approximately 25 times on Friday to wrongly accuse him of assaulting her is facing a felony charge in Lewis County Superior Court.
The 57-year-old woman was charged Monday with one count each of malicious prosecution, which is a class C felony, and third-degree false reporting, which is a gross misdemeanor.
All parties agreed to allow her release from the Lewis County Jail on $10,000 unsecured bail on Monday.
“Nothing happened. That’s the whole point of this,” Deputy Prosecutor Paul Masiello said Monday of a lack of community safety concerns in the case.
The woman was arrested and booked into the Lewis County Jail just after 11 p.m. on Friday, April 5, after deputies with the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report that her husband was “beating on her and shoving her” at a Toledo residence, according to court documents. While officers were en route to the Toledo address, the woman allegedly called back twice, first “to report her husband was out of control and calling her names as well as trying to kill her and the dogs” and again “to report her husband was threatening to cut her.” After one of the calls, the woman allegedly said, “You have to be coming after that,” according to court documents.
Deputies later learned that the woman had called Providence Centralia Hospital to make similar reports and had been calling 911 since 4:35 p.m. “claiming to be harming herself,” according to court documents.
When interviewed over the phone by a deputy, the woman allegedly “reported that her husband was out of control, and she had to lock him in his room due to his level of intoxication and aggressive behavior.”
A deputy reportedly “advised (the woman) that if what she was claiming was false, she would be arrested and charged.”
When a sergeant arrived, the woman “initially did not speak … and just showed him to where her husband’s room was.”
The sergeant reportedly found the husband sleeping in the room. “There were no signs of assault and (the woman) did not claim to have been assaulted,” according to court documents.
Her husband reportedly told the sergeant, “There were no altercations or threatening behavior,” adding that “he had been locked inside his bedroom most of the night.”
The woman reportedly “immediately fell on the floor” when a deputy contacted her for questioning, but declined medical assistance.
When questioned, the woman allegedly “told the deputy that none of the things she spoke about happened and she is trying to get clean and sober,” according to court documents.
All parties agreed Monday to add a provision to the woman’s conditions of release prohibiting her from consuming any alcohol or drugs until her case is resolved.
“She’s already on supervision, she’s in treatment, so I think this can be abided by,” defense attorney Rachael Tiller said Monday.
Arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, April 11.
