Long Island Woman Sentenced In False Rape Case

FAIRFIELD, CT — A 19-year-old Long Island woman was sentenced to one year in prison Thursday for falsely reporting being raped by two former football players at Sacred Heart University nearly two years ago.

Nikki Yovino, who pleaded guilty in June less than a month after testifying that she never told police that she was sexually assaulted, rolled her eyes during Thursday’s court appearance when one of the former players spoke about the damage she has done to his life, according to the Connecticut Post.

The Post reports Yovino, of South Setauket, has already served three months in prison and likely faces another three months before she is eligible for release. She accepted a plea deal in June just as jury selection was about to begin in the back-and-forth case. Prior to testifying that she never told police that she was sexually assaulted, Yovino's attorney told a Superior Court judge in a pretrial hearing in March that she would claim at a trial that she was in fact sexually assaulted.

Yovino was arrested in February 2017 after Bridgeport Police said she recanted her original story, which alleged that the two men raped her in a basement bathroom at a house party on Lakeside Drive in Bridgeport on Oct. 14, 2016.

Yovino pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of two counts of second-degree falsely reporting an incident and one count of interfering with police. She previously rejected a plea deal on two occasions, most recently in January, and was denied a pretrial probation program by a Superior Court judge last October that could have led to a dismissal of the charge. She faced up to six years in prison if convicted and previously rejected plea deals of two years in prison (by prosecutors) and one year in prison (by a judge), the Post previously reported.

Bridgeport Police said Yovino, who was 18 at the time, initially reported in October 2016 that she was sexually assaulted by a Sacred Heart University football player and another man who was a former student. Police said they conducted a thorough investigation and met several times with Sacred Heart administrators.

"Initial statements from witnesses and evidence recovered from the scene suggested that a sexual assault had occurred," Bridgeport Police said in a press release following the arrest. "As the investigation continued, the case detective received more information that contradicted Yovino's statements to police. This information included new witness accounts, text messages and cell phone video. Yovino was confronted with this evidence, and admitted that she, in fact, did have consensual sex with both males."

Read more on Thursday’s sentencing, including statements by the former players, at the Connecticut Post here.

Written by Vincent Salzo

Photo via the Bridgeport Police Department