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Woman Charged In UC Santa Cruz Fake Rape Report

SANTA CRUZ (CBS/AP) -- Prosecutors charged a 21-year-old Isla Vista woman with falsely reporting that she was raped while looking for banana slugs on the University of California, Santa Cruz campus.

Santa Cruz County District Attorney Bob Lee said Thursday that University of California, Santa Barbara student Morgan Triplett was charged with a misdemeanor of giving false information to a police officer.

Authorities said Triplett in February told police she was attacked while walking along a wooded path. She claimed she had been looking for the campus mascot, banana slugs, when she was struck in the head and torso by the alleged attacker.

Campus police later determined that Triplett made the story up. She will be arraigned next week.

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