Ashley Todd, McCain Attack Scammer, Reaches Deal With Police

PITTSBURGH — A volunteer for John McCain's presidential campaign agreed Thursday to enter a probation program for first-time offenders for falsely reporting that a Barack Obama supporter robbed and assaulted her and scratched a "B" on her cheek.

Ashley Todd, 20, of College Station, Texas, claimed the attack happened when a robber saw her McCain bumper sticker. Todd appeared before a city judge and waived her right to a hearing and was to be released from jail later Thursday.

Under the agreement, her criminal record will be expunged after if she stays out of trouble and gets mental treatment on probation. Most people spend a year on probation in the program, which is for first-time, nonviolent offenders.

"Our focus was really, 'This is somebody who appeared to have some mental issues,'" said prosecutor Chris Avetta. "And we wanted to make sure she doesn't hurt herself or anybody else."

Todd's public defender, Emily McNally, declined to comment.

Todd initially told investigators she was attempting to use a bank ATM on Oct. 22 when a 6-foot-4 black man approached her from behind, put a knife to her throat and demanded money. She told police she handed the assailant $60 and walked away.

Todd, who is white, told investigators she suspected the man then noticed a 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 letter "B" into her face with a dull knife.

After admitting she made up the story, the woman told investigators she believed she cut the "B" onto her own cheek but didn't remember doing so, police said last week.

She was charged with a misdemeanor count of making a false police report and had been jailed since Oct. 24. She underwent a court-ordered psychiatric examination and was deemed to be competent to stand trial but in need of further counseling.

The charge Todd faced carries a maximum two-year jail sentence. Assistant Police Chief Maurita Bryant said Todd must abide by the conditions of her release or risk being prosecuted on the charge.

"I think what she needed mostly was counseling," Bryant said. "The only one she actually hurt was herself, although there could have been so many other ramifications based on her actions."

The case generated national media attention when a picture showing Todd with a black eye and the red "B" on her cheek was posted online.

Initial reports of the mugging prompted calls of support from McCain, the Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate, Sarah Palin. The College Republican National Committee at first criticized the attack, then fired and disowned Todd once the hoax was exposed.

Comments

[wrenchdevil]

haha,..bef­ore she was a McCain campaign worker, she was a supporter and active in the Ron Paul campaign..­figures, .now it all makes sense..

[mervr1]

BullS**T

[whoknew---]

Whether or not this girl needed help that racially tinged accusation could have started a whole lot of trouble for everybody.­...it's a good thing that didn't happen at least as far as I can tell....

[apogee2perogee]

Ms. Toad's wild adventure ends in cutting a deal. No surprises here.

[CranioColicReflex]

"You better head back to Tennessee Jed."

[PghLiberal]

"Drink all day and rock all night,
The law come to get you if you don't walk right"

[Enid]

Question where did she get the idea too do this?

[victoriajubilee]

REMEMBER TO GO OUT AND VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4TH FOR THE OBAMABIDEN TICKET. AFTER YOU VOTE ,VOLUNTEER TO KNOCK ON DOORS OR MAKE PHONE CALLS TO GET OTHERS TO VOTE. iF YOUR STATE HAVE EARLY VOTING,GO OUT AND VOTE NOW SO YOU CAN VOLUNTEER THE LAST FEW DAYS. ALSO GIVE FELLOW CITIZENS A RIDE TO THE POLLS. VOTE ,VOTE ,VOTE,NO EXCUSES ,RAIN OR LONG LINES ,VOTE.

[BigCheese]

What was that? Could you speak up please?

[TrishTrash]

Mental illness my *ss! That was the first excuse she could think of when her story started to unravel. I personally believe she knew exactly what she was doing, and didn't just look in her car mirror that night with no idea what happened. It was planned and deliberate - no doubt about it. The police and prosecutors were too afraid of the ADA and looking "un-PC" once the mental illness premise was brought up. Maybe all those idiots at the Palin rallies screaming "Kill him!" and using the N-word should claim mental illness also? Ridiculous!

[wadenelson1]

*Tennessee alums all frowning*

[DBtv]

She is actually from Texas A&M.

[zenobiadarcy]

This is unbelievable. Mental problems-too bad. She knew exactly what she was doing and the result of her actions had she not been found out. I am infuriated as we all should be and what can we do about it? Nothing.

[jess1228]

No kidding. I'm absolutely disgusted.

[Teri]

she reached a deal? if a black woman had accused a white man of this act and it turned out to be false she'd be sent to JAIL. always a double standard! yes, i remember tawana brawlely in ny.

[Snottyboy]

You're right and you're wrong. Tawana Brawley accused SIX men of RAPE. The action Ms. Brawley took, making a false accusation, was similar. Tawana also made the mistake of accusing police officers.

[boyer37212]

In this particular case, I'm not buying the "if she were black" comments -- I think they are pointless. (Though I of course appreciate them and I am in agreement about the inequality issues these comments are pointing to).

If you wanna go there, then how about "If she were white trash?" What if she were "a black female Yale undergraduate whose father was a doctor?" The former wouldn't be working a campaign in the first place. The latter would have reached the same deal.

That's why I'm for Obama. He'd see that this chick is screwed up and leave it at that. His vision for America is one where I wouldn't feel obliged to make this post.

[BigCheese]

Looks more like sexism than racism to me. I have trouble believing that a man of any color would be given the same light punishment as this young woman. If this same hoax had been committed by a man, no one would be pleading for treatment and probation instead of hard jail time (except the guy's lawyer).

A double standard indeed.

[JBS]

Generally, men don't perpetrate "somebody beat me up" false police report hoaxes, so it's kind of hard to say what would happen to a man in a case like this.

[ilovemycat]

White justice vs. black justice. Interesting!!

[BigCheese]

More like female justice vs. male justice.

[JBS]

Looks like injustice vs. justice

[gallimaufry03]

I think the LEAST the judge should have given her was 40 hours of community service working on the Obama campaign. Poor kid. She's been brainwashed! I'm sure deep (deep deep deep) down in her there's an intelligent life form just waiting to be freed. (But then I think this about all wingnuts.)

[Fleetmind]

Mental issues?! Her only mental issues are ignorance, hatred and racism. Please don't slap her on the wrist...wh­ack her upside the head.

[bokiluis]

If the tables were reversed, another black person would have been imprisoned.

I have no sympathy at all for her. What kind of home did she grow up in?

What kind of support system does she surround herself with? HATRED IS A TAUGHT AND LEARNED PHENOMENA.­...IT DOES NOT COME NATURAL TO THE HUMAN SPIRIT.

Again, if this were a black person attacking McCain or Palin their black a**S would be under the 3 prisons

in Pittsburgh.