If authorities had believed Leiha Ann-Sue Artman’s story, four Black men would be serving time in prison. According to MLive, Artman told police that she was walking in her driveway at her home in Fruitland Township, Michigan when she was approached by four Black men in March 2016.
Artman, 25, said the men threw her in the trunk of their car and drove her to an unfamiliar location. At some point, she said the men raped her while she was being held captive. Two days later, her boyfriend claimed that he received text messages from the men who allegedly kidnapped Artman. He showed police the texts which demanded money for her return. He also received a photo of her bleeding from the head and something tied around her mouth. Artman was somehow able to call her boyfriend who picked her up from a location near their home.
Once she was interviewed by police, she said four Black men kidnapped her and even implicated men who may have been involved in the attack. But once authorities continued to interview Artman, they noticed inconsistencies in her story. She was eventually charged with filing a false report.
Artman’s case is reminiscent of dozens of cases where Black men have been falsely accused of rape and other crimes. Decades ago, race riots and the lynchings of Black men occurred due to false accusations of Black men raping White women. In more recent times, notable White people who have accused Blacks of a crime include Susan Smith in South Carolina in 1994; Ashley Todd of Pennsylvania in 2008; and Bonnie Sweeten of Pennsylvania in 2008.
Artman had a history of crime and violence. Before her false accusations, she was arrested for breaking and entering in 2012. She was arrested for resisting arrest in 2014. And she was arrested for fraud in June of 2016.
Artman will serve one year in prison for her crime.
