College student faked anti-gay notes that sparked
mass rally, police say
Published July 04, 2012
Associated Press
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – A college student who was given an outpouring
of community support after
she complained about receiving anti-gay notes has been charged with writing the
messages herself.
Alexandra Pennell was videotaped sliding one of the notes under her own
door by a hidden camera set up by Central Connecticut State University police,
according to an arrest warrant.
Pennell, 19, has pleaded not guilty to charges including falsely
reporting an
Hundreds of students rallied in support of Pennell on the New Britain campus in
March after she reported receiving the harassing notes. She had told campus
police that several anti-gay notes were slipped under her door or written on a
dry-erase board on her door.
CCSU police set up video cameras to identify who was responsible. The
arrest warrant says one camera recorded Pennell putting a note under her door
before retrieving it and alerting police.
When confronted by police, Pennell admitted that she was responsible for
all the notes and said she did it because she wanted more attention from her
roommate, according to the warrant.
Pennell was suspended from attending any school in the Connecticut state
university system for five years. She could not immediately be reached for
comment on Monday.
The university said it is confident the perpetrator was identified but
saddened by the student's actions.
"We remain proud, however, of the campus community's response to
what we believed was an act of bias, and we reaffirm now what was said then:
Acts of bias and hate will not be tolerated at CCSU," university spokesman
Mark McLaughlin said.
