A Campus Lodge apartments resident lied about someone trying to attack and kidnap her at the complex.
Tanya N. Borachi, 22, reportedon April 23 that a man came up behind her when she got out of her car at the complex, where she lives. She said he gagged her mouth with a torn T-shirt, covered her eyes with his hands and put a gun to her head.
Borachi recanted the story Wednesday during a follow-up interview with two Gainesville Police Department detectives, according to a GPD release Thursday. She said the story was a lesson to women in the area that such an attack is possible.
GPD will recommend Borachi pay for the resources used during the investigation, said GPD spokesman Ben Tobias.
Borachi, who attended the University of Florida from Fall 2009 to Spring 2012 but did not graduate, previously worked as a preview staffer for UF’s Division of Student Affairs.
Tobias said the woman originally told police she was a UF student, but GPD confirmed Thursday she was not. He said her friends and family also believed she was still at the university.
"This detail is a factor of her story," Tobias said.
Preview staffers help new students transition to university life, according to the program’s website.
Borachi declined to comment when reached by phone.
The department hasn’t estimated a cost yet, but multiple officers were assigned to work on the case including a K-9 unit, and evidence was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s crime lab in Jacksonville.
GPD has asked the Office of the State Attorney to charge her with filing a false police report. She may face a fine of up to $1,000 and up to a year in jail.
Alex Rivera contributed reporting.