Officials: Batavia woman accused of false report had knife in car
A folding knife covered in a "blood-like substance" was found in the vehicle of a Batavia woman who told police she was stabbed and slashed by an unknown person in St. Charles, according to court records.
Taylor V. Granato, 26, of the 600 block of North Batavia Avenue, was charged last week with filing a false police report, according to police and Kane County court records.
Granato went to police officers patrolling downtown St. Charles at about 2:10 a.m. Jan. 22; she was bleeding and told them she had been attacked by two people on the 200 block of Cedar Street as she stood outside of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee she drove, according to police and court records.
"After a brief discussion, the subject stabbed Taylor in the abdomen, cut her right arm and cut her face in three different locations using an unknown cutting-type instrument," a St. Charles police officer wrote in an affidavit to secure a search warrant on Jan. 22.
Police secured the area while Granato was taken to Delnor Hospital in Geneva for her injuries, which were not life-threatening, according to a news release. Officers found a large amount of blood on the Cherokee's passenger seat but couldn't find any on the pavement or near where she said she was stabbed, police said.
Granato told police her attackers fled in a four-door, silver vehicle, according to the affidavit. She also declined to let police search the Cherokee, so police got a warrant the next day, looking for blood, latent fingerprints and "any and all documents relating to well-being/self harm," according to court records.
The search turned up a blood-covered owner's manual for the Jeep, as well as hairs, fibers, six blood swabs and one "folding knife with a blood-like substance on it," according to the search warrant.
Investigators determined the attack did not happen, and Granato's wounds were self-inflicted, police said.
Granato turned herself in to police last week and is free on bond while the case is pending.
She is next due in court on Feb. 8 and, if convicted, could face up to three years in prison; probation is also an option. Granato does not have any previous criminal offenses or arrests in Kane County, records show.