A Connecticut judge denied a request to cut short probation for a Long Island woman convicted of falsely accusing two former Sacred Heart University football players of raping her four years ago.
A judge in Bridgeport denied a bid by Nikki Yovino, of South Setauket, New York, to reduce her three years of probation by half after she served one year in prison followed by 16 months of probation in the case, the Connecticut Post reported Tuesday.
Yovino, then 19, was sentenced to three years in prison with the final two suspended in August 2018 after pleading guilty ahead of trial to two counts of second-degree falsely reporting an incident and one count of interfering with police in the encounter at a booze-filled party.
Yovino told police in October 2016 that two football players at the college in Fairfield forced her to have sex in a bathroom in a basement of a house during a football club party in Bridgeport.
Police said Yovino claimed the football players — who have since left the university — held her down before sexually assaulting her. Both men later admitted to having sex with Yovino, but contended the encounter was consensual, police said.
Three months later, Yovino admitted that she “made up” the accusation during an interview with a police detective at her Long Island home, the Connecticut Post reports.
“She admitted that she made up the allegation of sexual assault against [the football players] because it was the first thing that came to mind and she didn’t want to lose [another male student] as a friend and potential boyfriend,” an arrest warrant affidavit states.
Yovino thought the encounter might make the other student “angry and sympathetic to her,” police said.
Superior Court Judge Tracy Lee Drayton denied Yovino’s request while noting that she had previously agreed to a plea deal in the case.
Yovino, who did not attend the hearing, is living with relatives in Ridgefield, but wants to return to Long Island, her attorney told a judge.
Attorney Ryan O’Neill declined to comment following the hearing, the newspaper reports.
A prosecutor said she opposed any reduction to Yovino’s probation, citing a lack of proof that she underwent a mental health evaluation and treatment, both of which were conditions of her probation, according to the report.
The two former students, meanwhile, are suing Yovino, claiming the bogus rape complaint forced them to leave the Fairfield university.
One of the men, Malik St. Hilaire, told a judge during Yovino’s sentencing that he had “no way” to clear his name following the accusations.
“I just hope she knows what she has done to me, my life will never be the same,” St. Hilaire said in court. “I did nothing wrong, but everything has been altered because of this.”