Here’s Why It’s Not Smart To Falsely Accuse Rape While Wearing Your Fitness Watch

By: Laura Meyers

You can run, but you can’t hide. Especially if you’re running (or walking), and wearing a FitBit when you try to make a false rape claim.

A Florida woman reported she was raped by an intruder while staying the night in her boss’ guest room, but police report that her fitness watch tells a different story.

Jeannine M. Risley, 43, of Saint Petersburg, Florida, was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania for her work and was staying in the guest room of her boss’s home. She told police that an unknown man pulled her out of bed, attacked her in a bathroom, and raped her at knifepoint.

But when authorities investigated the scene, things didn’t add up. Police couldn’t find any footprints from an intruder in the snow surrounding to the house. And when they discovered tracking data on her FitBit, which she initially said was lost in the attack, it revealed she had been walking around during the time she said she was sleeping.

Perhaps the most relevant part of the investigation is that before the alleged attack, Risley’s boss had just informed her that she would no longer be a temporary director with the company.

She has been charged with false reports to law enforcement, false alarms to public safety, and tampering with evidence for allegedly overturning furniture and placing a knife to make it appear she had been raped by an intruder.

Smooth.