Good Morning America weather girl claims she is victim of character assassination over 'false' Central Park attack

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 14:25 EST, 19 December 2010

Lawyer denies Heidi Jones had claimed to be the victim of rape
Weather girl faces up to a year in jail or $1,000 fine for false reporting

In court: WABC weather girl Heidi Jones has pleaded not guilty to charges of falsely reporting an incident

A TV weather girl has been the victim of a malicious media storm over falsely claiming she had been assaulted while jogging in New York's Central Park, her lawyer has said.

WABC's Heidi Jones, who often fills in on ABC's Good Morning America, told police that she had been sexually assaulted in the famous park in September.

But after police spotted discrepancies in the 37-year-old's account of the two attacks, she allegedly admitted making up the story.

Lawyer Paul Callan told NBC News that Jones had never told police she was the victim of rape or attempted rape and had been portrayed wrongly in 'disturbingly one-sided and unfair' press accounts.

Jones was charged to Monday with false reporting. If convicted, she could face up to a year in jail, or be fined $1,000 (£640).

She is also facing losing her job from WABC, where she has worked since 2005, after she was suspended pending the outcome of an internal investigation.

Mr Callan said: 'Ms Jones also wants to make it clear that at no time did she ever claim to any law enforcement official that she had been raped or that she was the victim of an attempted rape.

'The characterisation of this case as a "false rape claim" is character assassination directed at a respected broadcast journalist.

Household name: Jones, left, with some of her ABC Good Morning America co-hosts in an image taken from her Facebook page

Charges: Jones had claimed she was attacked by a Hispanic man who then threatened her outside her home

'I urge everyone to remember the presumption of innocence to wait for resolution of this matter in a court of law.'

He also branded allegations that New York police had provided Jones with round-the-clock protection after she said she had been attacked twice by the same Hispanic man as a 'complete lie'.

The New York Daily News had claimed six officers accompanied the presenter on dog walks and visits to the cinema over a three-week period, citing an anonymous source.

Mr Callan added: 'If these sources exist at all, the information they are dispensing is inaccurate, in some cases defamatory.

'Ms Jones has had a distinguished career as a broadcast journalist and urges all concerned to refrain from jumping to conclusions about the unproven charges against her being discussed in the press.'

Central Park: The alleged attacks took place in the famous New York park in September and November

Central Park: The alleged attacks took place in the famous New York park, and Jones alleges she was only saved when passersby scared off her attacker

Jones had initially told police on November 24 that a Hispanic man grabbed her from behind as she ran in Central Park on September 24.

She also said that on November 21 the same man had found her again and harassed her near her apartment in lower Manhattan.

Jones, an avid runner, grew up in Indiana. She worked in Albany, New York, then Billings, Montana, before moving on to Houston, Texas, where she was honoured as the state's best weather girl.