Corona girl faked abduction, police say

The 17-year-old girl who was found tied up in a Riverside County ravine had bound her own hands and feet and fabricated a story that two men had grabbed her and thrown her into a van Monday as she was leaving school, Corona police said Tuesday.

After a passerby discovered the girl crying for help -- her mouth covered with tape -- at the bottom of the ravine, more than 15 investigators fanned out across Corona, some with bloodhounds, searching for evidence in the wash at the edge of the Santa Ana Mountains.

But Corona Police Sgt. Neil Reynolds said police immediately began to have questions about her story, which was inconsistent and did not match accounts of witnesses who saw her earlier in the day.

“All indications are that she was the only one involved in the incident,” Reynolds said Tuesday.

Eventually, he said, “she told us that she had done this herself.”

Reynolds said he could not elaborate on the girl’s motives or what witnesses told police, but he said the Corona girl, who was not identified because she is a juvenile, was having “personal and family issues.”

He said police weighed whether to charge her with filing a false police report, but decided it was not appropriate in this case.

“It’s important that [people] know that there aren’t two guys driving around abducting teenagers,” Reynolds said. “As frustrating or horrible as it is that she is going through this, we’re certainly glad there isn’t that concern.”

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