Posted on 05/19/2004 7:21:15 PM PDT by wagglebee
CLAREMONT — A visiting Claremont McKenna College professor accused of making up a story about her car being spray-painted on campus with racist and anti-Semitic slurs pleaded innocent Tuesday to felony and misdemeanor charges. Kerri Dunn, 39, is free on her own recognizance pending a June 1 hearing to determine if there is enough evidence to require her to stand trial.
Dunn was charged April 26 with two felony counts of insurance fraud and one misdemeanor count of filing a false police report.
Dunn was scheduled to be in court tomorrow, but the hearing was done a day early at her request, said Jane Robison of the District Attorney's Office. Dunn's attorney, Gary Lincenberg, could not be reached for immediate comment.
Dunn reported to police and school officials that her car had been vandalized March 9 while she was on campus preparing a lecture for a forum on racism, authorities said. She also allegedly called her insurance company to report vandalism and theft of items from her car.
"False accusations that imply hate crimes prey on the legitimate concerns of the public, who truly abhor violence based on race, ethnicity or sexual orientation," District Attorney Steve Cooley stated last month.
"And those who make false claims should realize there is a penalty for doing so."
Dunn's report of a hate crime caused officials to cancel classes at the five undergraduate Claremont campuses on March 10, and sparked anti-hate crime rallies that drew hundreds of students and captured national attention.
But police later said two witnesses identified the assistant psychology professor as the person who allegedly vandalized her own car.
Dunn has denied wrongdoing. But Claremont police Lt. Stan Van Horn said last month that Dunn was inconsistent in statements she gave during separate interviews with Claremont police and the FBI.
The Los Angeles Times reported last month that Dunn was arrested three times in 1999 and 2000.
She paid $75 in fines after being arrested in Nebraska in September 1999 and charged with driving without a license and having fictitious plates on her car, the newspaper reported.
A case stemming from a Dec. 31, 1999, arrest for shoplifting was dismissed after Dunn paid court costs. She was arrested again in a shoplifting case on Sept. 29, 2000, according to The Times.
I'm glad she wasn't preparing a lecture on serial killers
Update ping!
Or to poison race relations?
I sent a shiny Canadian penny to her legal fund.
Ping
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