Police: McCain volunteer hatched hoax

PITTSBURGH — A McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter "B" scratched on her face in what she had said was a politically inspired attack, police said Friday.

Ashley Todd, 20, a college student from College Station, Texas, admitted Friday that the story was false, said Maurita Bryant, assistant chief of the Police Department's investigations division. Todd was charged with making a false report to police.

Bryant said police doubted Todd's story from the start.

Dressed in an orange hooded sweat shirt, Todd left police headquarters in handcuffs late Friday and did not respond to questions. The mark on her face was faded and her left eye was slightly blackened when she arrived in district court.

She was awaiting arraignment on the misdemeanor false-report charge, which is punishable by up to two years in prison. She will be housed in a mental-health unit at the county jail for her safety and because of "her not insignificant mental-health issues," prosecutor Mark Tranquilli said.

Todd initially told investigators she was attempting to use a bank ATM on Wednesday night when a 6-foot-4 black man approached her from behind, put a knife blade to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.

Todd told investigators she suspected the man then noticed a John McCain sticker on her car. She said the man punched her in the back of the head, knocked her to the ground and scratched a backward "B" into her face with a dull knife.

Police said Todd claimed the man told her he was going to "teach her a lesson" for supporting the Republican presidential candidate, and she was going to become a supporter of Democratic candidate Barack Obama.

Todd could provide no explanation for why she invented the story, police said. The woman told investigators she believes she cut the "B" onto her cheek, but did not provide an explanation of how or why and said she doesn't remember doing so, police said.

Police said the woman reported suffering from "mental problems" in the past, and they do not believe anyone put her up to the act.

Tranquilli said Todd will remain jailed over the weekend pending a psychiatric evaluation.

Todd worked in New York for the College Republican National Committee before moving two weeks ago to Pennsylvania, where her duties included recruiting college students, the committee's executive director, Ethan Eilon, has said.

"We are as upset as anyone to learn of her deceit; Ashley must take full responsibility for her actions," College Republican National Committee spokeswoman Ashley Barbera said.

Police interviewed Todd after she contacted police Wednesday night and again Thursday, Bryant said. They asked her to come back Friday, supposedly to help police put together a sketch of the attacker. Instead, detectives began interviewing her.

"They just started talking to her and she just opened up and said she wanted to tell the truth," Bryant said.

Police suspected all along that Todd might not be telling the truth, starting with the fact that the "B" was backward, Bryant said.