Lesoski
On October 30, Caro resident Valerie Marie Lesoski told authorities she had been abducted and sexually assaulted in Tuscola County’s Wells Township.
A Michigan State Police investigation determined that Lesoski was not truthful in her allegations. And on Monday, the
38-year old was sentenced to a year in jail by Tuscola County Circuit Judge Amy Grace Gierhart for falsely reporting a crime had taken PLACE.
Lesoski was convicted of two counts of false report of a felony, after pleading no contest at her arraignment hearing on March 6. Two additional counts of false report of a felony were dismissed. She received a 365-day sentence with credit for one day served.
According to a previous Advertiser story, Lesoski originally told police that she stopped her vehicle in Wells Township to help two men by the side of the road and was forced into their vehicle and assaulted by them. She even helped Michigan State Police with putting together a sketch of one of the purported assailants that was distributed in Tuscola County and surrounding counties.
Tuscola County Prosecutor Mark Reene told The Advertiser on Nov. 10 that “it was conclusively determined that the report that was made (by Lesoski) on October 30, 2016 was false and entirely devoid of merit.”
Reene’s announcement came after many hours were spent investigating the case.
“This case was a bit extraordinary too in that the expenditure of resources was just extreme given what was being alleged,” Reene told The Advertiser Friday. “We literally had all sorts of law enforcement, including my office, being involved and started to work on that in essence around the clock. So you just have hours and hours being spent trying to sort what had happened.
“Hours that were obviously taken away from other things that could have been done.”
Eight days after Lesoski alleged she was abducted and assaulted, on Nov. 6, an abduction and sexual assault took place in Tuscola County’s Dayton Township. Jeffrey Innes Wendorf was quickly apprehended and was recently sentenced to a minimum of over 33 years in prison for those crimes.
“Then we had the unfortunate development, we had a legitimate abduction the next weekend, so the timing could not have been worse,” Reene said. “You had everyone trying to ascertain how many people were we dealing with? (And) what’s going on? In terms of resources that got expended, it was almost unparalleled because of the nature of the allegations.”
Reene said that the primary reason Lesoski made the false allegations was that she “was attempting to come up with an explanation for her whereabouts over (that) weekend, and she was at a place she didn’t want to, I guess, explain to her husband and family (where she actually was).”
“On the list of things you might try to come up with to disguise or misrepresent your whereabouts, that would be the last thing to enter anyone’s mind,” Reene said. “The problem is, it didn’t end. There were many times she could have simply said ‘OK, look I got the ball rolling,’ (but) instead of ending it, she continued to create and fabricate evidence in an attempt to make the allegations legitimate.”
Lesoski qualifies for Public Act 511 if she is eligible, which means if she completes certain criteria, her jail time could be cut in half. She was also ordered to pay $2,326 in assessments and fees.
A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.
