Stress and a hunger for attention led a suspended WABC weather woman to make up a story about being attacked, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Meteorologist Heidi Jones, 37, used those excuses when she finally came clean almost two weeks after leading detectives on a wild goose chase last month, according to a court document.
Jones appeared silently before a Manhattan Criminal Court judge to face two misdemeanor counts of filing a false report. Her lawyer said that she pleaded not guilty and will fight the allegations, which could land her in prison for a year.
"I did make this up," Jones confessed to detectives on Dec. 13, according to the document. "I made it up for attention. I have so much stress at work, with my personal life and with my family. I know there is no justification for it,"
Jones went to police with her tall tale on Dec. 1, claiming that a man attacked her in Central Park while she was jogging in late September and again outside her apartment almost two months later.
"I was attacked in Central Park on September 24, 2010, at approximately 1 p.m. and I was also attacked on November 21, 2010, outside of my home at approximately 7:30 a.m," according to the document.
WABC-TV suspended Jones indefinitely and said they would conduct their own probe. The forecaster had been with the station since 2005 and sometimes appeared on "Good Morning America."
