Legal Question in Criminal Law in Utah

Threat of false rape

I am curious of what steps I can take legally if someone has threatened me of false-rape. I met the person on a personal ad, and we chatted quite a bit. She made comments of possible sexual favors if she and I hit it off. I met her once, and she forced oral sex on me. I asked her for a towel, wiped, and left the apartment because i felt violated. She made attempts to contact me by phone, e-mail, and chat. Yesterday, she threatened me that her son is a police man and if I didn't go out with her again, that she would cry that I raped her. I am much bigger in stature than she is, and she told me that she'd claim that i overpowered her.I am scared that if I do make her mad that she will contact him. I would like to know what my legal rights are for protecting myself from being falsely accused? I copied exactly what was said to me from her. I have also made it clear to her that I am not interested.

If anyone can give me feedback, it would be greatly appreciated.


Asked on 8/09/02, 12:51 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jes Beard Jes Beard, Attorney at Law

Re: Threat of false rape

While I am not licensed to practice law in Utah, and you may want to check this with a Utah attorney to make sure I am correct, it appears that Utah is one of the majority of states which allow a person to record any conversation he is a party to. What this means is that it would be legal for you to record any conversation you have with her, whether in person or on the phone. I would encourage you to contact her, record the conversation, meet her again and record the meeting, and during that phone conversation (the rules on recording are the same in person as on the phone -- if you are taking part in the conversation on the phone you can record it) and your in person meeting with her again, I would talk about the things you discussed in your message and make sure you get her responding to them in such a way that anyone (like a judge or jury or district attorney) listening to the tape would KNOW she had done these things, and then after getting her recorded I would leave or stay as I wished. You get that recorded and she will have no credibility to anyone who hears it, and you also could use the tape if you were to file suit against her for her effort to what amount to blackmailing you into continuing to see her and have sex with her.

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Answered on 8/10/02, 7:56 am


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