Woman concocted rape story, police say

A Lutz woman who said she was kidnapped and driven across the state was covering up a day of partying, officials say.

By ANGELA MOORE

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 14, 2000

TAMPA -- She told police a story that could make any woman fearful: She was kidnapped at knifepoint in the middle of the day from a busy gas station, driven across the state and raped, lucky to escape 12 hours into the ordeal.

But the whole thing was a big lie, officials said Tuesday. Robin Champion, a 32-year-old Lutz woman, didn't want her live-in boyfriend to know that she drove to Cocoa on June 1 to party with a man she had just met, police said.

So she concocted a kidnapping story in which she was the victim and her companion for the day, a man already wanted in Cocoa on attempted murder charges, was a knife-wielding rapist, police said.

When Champion drove away after a day of partying with Robert Stanley Terry, 36, she drove up to police officers in Brevard County and said she had just escaped from him, authorities said. The officers took her to the hospital while Cocoa police and the Brevard Sheriff's Office looked for the suspect.

And they caught him. While he was in jail on charges of armed sexual battery and armed kidnapping, Terry's relatives talked to Brevard investigators and convinced them Champion was with Terry willingly, offering several details of their day.

In addition, surveillance tapes from gas stations in Tampa and Titusville failed to back up Champion's story that Terry threatened her at knifepoint and stuck by her side. Terry didn't go into the Titusville station, and Champion was inside several minutes alone.

"We always like to believe the victim, but sometimes investigations dig up facts that don't match the story," said Hillsborough sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Rod Reder. "This is very unfortunate because it makes the true victims of sexual battery even more reluctant to call us."

Champion has been charged with filing a false police report and will appear before a Brevard County judge July 6. Terry's charges stemming from the false kidnapping have been dropped, but he is still in jail on an attempted murder charge.

-- Angela Moore can be reached at (813)226-3373 or amoore@sptimes.com.

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