FL woman's "attack" hoax ; man spends three months in jail before charges dropped

FL - Woman charged with false crime report; accused freed
07/26/2007

DAYTONA BEACH -- The victim has become the accused. A man once accused has been vindicated.

In a crime story that some say was entirely fabricated, only Helenann Bock knows for sure.

The 44-year-old Palm Coast woman who claimed she was attacked in her home by a 20-year-old man late last year is now charged with falsely reporting a crime.

Flagler County sheriff's investigators determined it was Bock who wrote a series of threatening letters -- to herself -- after Victor Lamar Evans' arrest last October. She also cut herself with a razor, telling police she'd been attacked by a woman. Investigators don't believe that woman exists.

"No one's seen witness tampering like this for 20 years," said Evans' Ormond Beach attorney, David S. Cromartie. "The reason is because it didn't happen."

The case began at 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, when Bock told deputies a harrowing tale.

"She's in her laundry room, carrying a glass of water," starts Cromartie, who has repeated what he now considers to be a tale many times since. "She hears a noise to the right, sees a black male there. She runs to the front door. Whoever this was grabs her. She breaks the glass, the shirt rips. Whoever this is grabs (Bock's) pants."

Evans was working at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in Volusia County and staying at his mother's house near Bock's home. He was developed as a suspect by investigators and arrested that night. Bock picked Evans out of a photo lineup, claiming he was the man who entered her home.

But there were problems. No physical evidence linked Evans to the crime and he had an alibi. Bock described a smaller man, which is uncommon when people describe attackers. "You make him bigger, not littler," Cromartie said.

It seemed as if the case against Evans would rest entirely on Bock's account, which concerned Cromartie. "She was very convincing," he said. "She testified well; it was scary."

But to Cromartie, the story Bock crafted proved to be her own undoing. Even with Evans in jail, Bock told the police the trouble continued.

She reported that Evans, who sat in jail for 90 days awaiting trial on a charge of burglary with assault or battery and faced up to life in prison, was behind an elaborate campaign of threats against her.

She provided copies of letters she said she received, some taped to her windows, which got more direct in their intent as time went on. She also claimed she was attacked at her home by a woman. The attacker, Bock said, grabbed her by the hair.

Sheriff's officials took the threats seriously, and filed 14 complaints of witness tampering against Evans.

But when Bock reported a new attack in a Winn-Dixie shopping center on May 24, her story fell apart.

Detectives determined that Bock slashed her own face and hands, in part because of the way the blood was splattered. A handwriting expert determined she had written at least some of the letters.

When investigators pressed her, Bock -- she is white and Evans is black -- denied in a vulgar and racist rant that she wrote three of the letters but she said, "I had to make sure he did not get away with it," according to the report.

All charges against Victor Lamar Evans were subsequently dropped.

Prosecutors declined to discuss the case because of the pending charge against Bock, who has a plea hearing Tuesday, and if convicted could face jail time.

A woman who answered Bock's phone hung up on a reporter Wednesday.

"She would have testified well," said Cromartie, who questions whether the original crime ever happened. "We might have gone to trial and my guy might have gotten life."

According to reports, family members told police Bock would get a psychiatric evaluation.

From the beginning, Evans has maintained his innocence, Cromartie said.

"It's just hard to believe anyone would do this. Maybe she did it for attention."