NEW BRITAIN, Conn. — A lesbian student at Central Connecticut State University, who claimed she was harassed by an anonymous person who left threatening, anti-gay notes under her door, has been charged with writing the notes herself.
Alexandra E. Pennell, 19, faces eight felony counts of fabricating evidence, eight misdemeanor charges of lying to police, eight misdemeanor counts of filing a false police report and one count of making a false statement to police, reported the Hartford Courant.
Alexandra Pennell
The incidents date back to March 7, when Pennell first reported that anti-gay notes were slipped under her door several times and written on a dry erase board on her door.
Reports of the threatening messages, which Pennell claimed she received on at least eight separate occasions, sparked a March 13 rally at CCSU where students protested against hate crimes.
It was on that date, around 4 p.m. — just before Pennell headed off to speak at the campus rally against hate — Pennell reported to police that she found another harassing note that had been left when she went to take a shower.
The video surveillance system police left in Pennell’s room to identify the person leaving the notes had been disabled just before the note was allegedly slid under Pennell’s door.
Police say only after they set up a second camera in a hall closet — a camera that Pennell did not know about — did they learn the truth: Pennell had been writing the notes herself.
Pennell told police she faked the notes to get her roommate’s attention with the hope that her roommate, Siobhan Dooley, would spend more time with her.
Pennell has been thrown out of CCSU and prohibited from attending any state university for five years.
She has pleaded not guilty and is due back in court July 26 in New Britain, Conn.
Filed under: Connecticut
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tsk tsk tsk… :/
THEY ARE STUPID!!
Wow.
shame on this person shame
Maybe she did…we are not perfect.
wow :T
Because that helps those out there who actually do experience hate crimes…If you’re lucky enough to not get notes like that, why on earth would you fake them?
And anti-gay activists latching onto this to attempt to dismiss and marginalize real hate crimes against homosexuals in 3… 2… 1…
For shame. On her, and on them.
I get it. I don’t agree with what she did, but I understand. To feel so invisible, so unwanted, unloved, it must have been heart breaking for her. I hope that she can get the help she needs.
I feel no shame for her, only compassion.
Crazy transcends all sexual orientations, it’s just doesn’t affect straight people.
That was a really stupid thing to do. Though they did get a rally out of it that promotes awareness about hate crimes, so I suppose it wasn’t a total waste of time. Cheers to her for the rally, shame on her for lying.
Isn’t the “L” in GLBT redundant? Seems so.
What a knucklehead.
:(
Hope she feels losing her education through a University for the next five years was worth the effort of getting someones attention. Even if it wasn’t the result she wanted she got noticed.
Don’t hurt those that will genuenly need help after you make false claims.
I agree that she should have been kicked out of school and charged with misdemeanors, but felony charges seem a little much to me. I guess I’m just not a fan of seeing someone do hard time for a non-violent offense.
Though this is bad media for the GLBT community, it’s not an excuse to write hateful comments towards this Gurl. Have any of you stopped to read some of the trash posted on here? “Dumbass, stupid attention whore, idiot” I’m sorry but that us straight up BULLYING! It’s not okay on any degree or situation, especially from us, the ones that endure it the most. Please have some decency…
A Christian high school senior in Harrisburg, PA came out, was suspended, and his mother was subsequently fired after the stress of trying to get her son back into school in the wake of comments that he would be allowed in when he “fixed his sin” proved to be too much. http://www.courthousenews.com/2012/06/26/47810.htm