Ind. woman gets probation for false rape report

MISHAWAKA, Ind. — A former Goshen College student who falsely reported that she was abducted and raped has been sentenced to 18 months of probation and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

WSBT-TV in South Bend reports that a judge Thursday also suspended an 18-month prison sentence that Jessica De La Vega could have faced under her conviction of obstructing justice.

Prosecutors said De La Vega told her mother in January she’d been kidnapped and raped as an excuse for being late. She then told police she had been abducted and raped in a Goshen park, leading police to circulate a sketch of a suspect.