Thirty Days

05/10/04

Thirty Days

Bradley Flory

A former Leslie High School student who framed her teacher for sexual assault was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in the Ingham County Youth Center.

Rebecca Shong, 17, also was ordered to enroll after her release at the Mingus Mountain Estate Residential Center in Arizona, a school and treatment center for girls.

A jury in August found Shong guilty of filing a false police report in the commission of a felony.

She accused special-education teacher Craig Fry of raping her at the school in 2003. She was 16 at the time.

Fry was arrested in January but cleared a month later, when police determined Shong made it up.

Investigators concluded Shong faked Internet chat sessions -- essentially chatting with herself -- purportedly talking to Fry about their sexual contact.

"Everybody in the court system who has looked at this case agrees it's unprecedented the lengths she went to to fabricate evidence," said Stuart Dunnings III, Ingham County prosecuting attorney.

Shong maintained throughout her trial that she was raped by Fry.

"We were expecting a sentence kind of like what was given," said her defense attorney David Zoglio. "My client feels that she can certainly do this program and is optimistic about her future."

Fry died in June from complications of a heart attack. He was 49 and lived in Lansing.

Shong's sentence also included a ban on contact with several people and a court order to stay out of Leslie Township, Dunnings said.

"There are so many women who are victimized sexually and incidents of false accusation happen so rarely," Dunnings said. "I would hope this case does not make women more reluctant to come forward, because they fear they won't be believed."