Over the Halloween weekend, University Police Chief Michael Gibson sent out an email notifying the student body of a robbery that occurred on Oct. 29. He would later send out a revision to his previous statement that said this incident did not actually occur.
Originally, the reported robbery allegedly took place in between the McCormick Hall residences of Courtenay and Dunglison around 1 am. First-year College student Thomas Shaw told the police he was approached by an unknown person wearing a white plastic Halloween mask.
Shaw also told the police that the unknown assailant was armed with a knife and intimidated him to hand over his wallet and ring. This would be disproven by the University Police.
“Any University student who makes a materially false statement to a U.Va. official, including police, would be subject to being reported to the Honor Committee,” University Dean of Students Allen Groves said in an email statement.
Two days after the report, Shaw admitted to police on Oct. 31 that the report was false and he was later charged by the UPD for violating state law.
“On Oct. 31, 2016, the University of Virginia Police Department charged Thomas Shaw with one count of giving a false report to police,” UPD Crime Prevention Coordinator Benjamin Rexrode said in an email statement. “On Oct. 29, 2016, Mr. Shaw reported that he was robbed at knife point and later admitted to University Police that the incident did not occur.”
Shaw was released on a permitted warrant and will have to report to the Albemarle General District Court on Nov. 10.
As Honor charges are not public, it is unclear as to the status of any pending charges against Shaw.
The Honor Committee has jurisdiction over all cases of lying, cheating and stealing, Honor Committee Chair Matt West, a fourth-year College student, said.
“If the committee received such a report, the committee would investigate it as we do any other case,” West said. “If an Investigation Panel determined that a student, in filing a false police report, more likely than not committed a significant act of lying with knowledge, then the case would proceed to a hearing.”
The task of combatting these false reports has been challenging for the UPD, because there is always the risk that it may discourage someone else in the future from reporting a real incident.
“It is difficult to say if there is a way to ‘weed out’ … false reports from being filed,” Rexrode said. “We would never want to discourage someone from reporting a crime because they feel we may not believe them.”
Rexrode said these false reports are rare, however.
“We are always going to believe a victim when they report a crime to us,” he said.
Shaw did not return a request for comment Thursday evening. This article will be updated should he respond.
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