A UNH student arrested Oct. 27 on charges of falsely reporting to be the victim of a hate crime has a history of making similar false claims at two other colleges, according to court documents.
Experts say this kind of false report is very rare, but that it could have far-reaching effects on the public's attitude towards hate crimes and their victims.
Breanne Coventry Snell, 24, of Midlothian, Va., told police she was assaulted on Oct. 3 near the Whittemore Center by two white males as she made her way home from a Hillel meeting, according to her arrest affidavit from the Durham District Court. She identified one of her attackers as a freshman football player she had met in the dining hall and sent a friend request to on facebook.com, picking his picture out of a lineup.
After investigating various inconsistencies in her story, interviewing Snell's roommates, and confirming that the football player she identified was in a team practice at the time of the alleged attack, police concluded that the incident never happened. Snell was arrested on Oct. 27 on two counts of false reports to law enforcement and one count of unsworn falsification. Both are Class A misdemeanors.
The five-page affidavit reveals a long history of false reports made by Snell dating back to the 1999-2000 school year, when she was a student at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), and last year when she attended the University of Maine. While at VCU, Snell claimed to be the victim of three crimes on campus, all of which were proven false. She reported to have been hit in the head with a brick by an unknown male, been mugged on campus, and been the victim of violent rape by an unknown male assailant. It is unclear why she was never charged with making false reports. She was also arrested on felony arson charges for burning down a local laundromat, but plead to a misdemeanor.
UNH depends on an "honor system" requiring prospective students to disclose past conduct or criminal issues on the school application, according to Mark Rubinstein, vice president for Student & Academic Services.
"The 'honor system' seemingly has served us well for the several years that it has been in place," said Rubinstein. If an issue is disclosed, the admissions office reviews the issue to determine if the person's past behavior represents a threat to the UNH community, explained Rubinstein. "We have not had many instances where past conduct or a criminal violation has come to light after admission. Naturally, we'll take a look at recent experience and consider whether we need to amend our approach."
Snell could also face sanctions through the university judicial system. Because this is "a very rare situation," there are not specific university guidelines for handling such a case, explained Anne Lawing, the assistant vice president for Student and Academic Affairs. If it is discovered that she failed to disclose her criminal history on her UNH application, Snell could be found to have violated the Code of Conduct for furnishing false information to a university official.
While very little research has been done on the subject, UNH experts speculated that this kind of incident could discourage legitimate victims from coming forward, and make police more skeptical of future reports.
"It's unfortunate not just in the case of the people involved, but in creating an atmosphere that doubts that valid hate crimes occur," said UNH Sociology Professor Murray Straus. Straus is also co-director of the Family Research Laboratory. "I have no data on this, but I have a feeling that it undermines people's willingness to confront [hate crimes] . . . people who doubt it in the first place will have their beliefs reinforced."
"It's such an anomaly," said UNH Psychology Professor Ellen Cohn. "[False reports certainly get] the media's attention, but we have so much more research on false confessions and false memories of childhood sexual abuse."
"We can't draw many conclusions; it's just speculation . . . [but] over time it may make police more skeptical," said Cohn. She pointed out that there are many legitimate victims who already do not feel like they're able to come forward, adding that this "may discourage them."
UNH Deputy Police Chief Paul Dean disagrees.
"In no way, shape, or form has this jaded our view of victims who come forward," said Dean. "We're fact-finders. True victims of crime should feel very comfortable coming too us . . . police officers are not that narrow-minded."
Dean said that Snell's actions have "far-reaching ramifications" for both her and the UNH community. If convicted, Snell could face up to a year in jail or a $2,000 fine for each of the three charges. Additionally, she could be forced to pay restitution to the university to cover the costs associated with the investigation. "It's wasted time and wasted money," said Dean, who explained that because of the serious nature of her claims, this investigation might have taken precedent over other legitimate crimes. "It's student money that people pay the police to do this."
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