A woman has been sentenced after she falsely accused a man whom she had never met of kidnapping and r*ping her.
Anjela Borisova Urumova, 20, was sentenced on Tuesday, April 1, to 23 months and 45 days in Bucks County Correctional Facility after filing a fake police report in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania.
Her completely fabricated story accused a man — later identified by CBS News as Daniel Pierson — of a violent crime he had nothing to do with.
According to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office, Pierson “spent a month in jail” before detectives uncovered the truth.
“In this case, she targeted an innocent man and accused him of one of the worst crimes a person can be accused of,” said Bucks County District Attorney Jennifer Schorn in a statement.
Urumova pleaded guilty back in January to seven misdemeanor charges, including false alarm to an agency of public safety, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, false reports, and unsworn falsification to authorities.
The New York Post reported she initially faced up to 17 years behind bars.
In addition to the nearly two-year prison sentence, the judge handed Urumova a year of probation, ordered her to undergo a mental health evaluation, and required her to pay $3,600 in restitution to the victim. She’s also banned from contacting Pierson or his family.
Schorn emphasized the broader damage that comes with these kinds of false accusations.
"Not only did this targeted false report impact the victim and his family in unimaginable ways, but there is also a profound ripple effect," she said. "A crime like this can shatter the community’s confidence in the system. It can jeopardize prosecutions of legitimate crimes of sexual violence."
She added: "The prosecution and sentence of this defendant for a malicious false report demonstrates that this will not be tolerated.”
The story began unraveling when detectives continued to investigate Urumova’s claims.
According to Bucks County officials, surveillance footage from several local businesses showed “multiple inconsistencies and contradictory information” that didn’t align with her story.
After being confronted by investigators, Urumova confessed that she “lied about the entire incident and that no assault occurred,” the DA’s office said. She also admitted she picked out Pierson because she had “seen him and the truck in the past.”
The fallout has been deeply personal for the man wrongly accused. Pierson was in the courtroom for the sentencing, along with his mother and wife, but declined to comment publicly.
“I’m incredibly grateful for the work that law enforcement did in this case to get down to what happened, but it can’t change the fact that a man spent 31 days sleeping in a cell for a crime he didn’t commit,” said Chief Deputy District Attorney Kristin M. McElroy.