A 20-year-old woman admitted sparking panic throughout South County by falsely reporting she was sexually assaulted in the
same area as another recent attack.
Danielle Rene Deichman
of Laguna Niguel was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years probation after pleading guilty Monday to misdemeanor counts of
filing a false report of a criminal offense and resisting a peace
officer.
]
On Jan. 25, a woman was sexually assaulted along Alicia Parkway in
Laguna Hills. Eight days later, Deichman told Orange County
sheriff's deputies that she was grabbed from behind and knocked to
the ground in the same general area–on La Paz Road in Laguna Niguel–adding that
she kicked her attacker in the nuts and escaped.
Two reports that close together in time and location prompted media
outlets to warn South County women that a sexual predator may be on the
loose. But in a follow-up interview with sheriff's detectives on
Feb. 3, Deichman's story had so many holes that her inquisitors got her to admit making up the whole
thing.
As Deichman was being cuffed while being placed under arrest,
she ran away before being subdued by two female
investigators. One officer sustained minor injuries.
Previous coverage:
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.