Meteorologist Suspended in Wake of Questionable Sexual Assault Claims

A successful female meteorologist is suspended after making claims of a near sexual assault that police say are false.  INSIDE EDITION has the details.

Why on earth would a rising-star TV personality make up a rape story?

That's the baffling question today after TV weathergirl Heidi Jones was busted for allegedly falsely claiming she had been sexually assaulted.

Jones has been suspended from her job as meteorologist at a New York City TV station.

Heidi Jones reportedly told police she was jogging in New York's Central Park when an attacker grabbed her from behind, dragged her into the woods and tried to rape her. She said the attacker ran off when two passersby came to help her.

Two months later, she claimed the same man confronted her outside her apartment and told her, "I know you went to the police."

But cops say they found way too many inconsistencies in her account and confronted her. She reportedly admitted making up the whole thing as a bizarre plea for sympathy during an unspecified personal crisis.

37-year-old Jones, who sometimes fills in on Good Morning America, has now been charged with filing a false police report, and faces up to a year in jail if convicted.

Her lawyer is asking eveyone to "refrain from jumping to conclusions."

Jones is the latest in a list of high-profile hoax cases. Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks who claimed she had been kidnapped just before her wedding day, ended up mowing lawns as part of her community service after she was exposed as a fantasist.