German student a no-show in court
A 24-year-old German woman has been charged with two counts of tampering with evidence and one count of filing a false claim in connection with a rape report she made as a foreign exchange student at Columbia Falls High School in 2009.
The charges were filed in Flathead County District Court against Christina Nelson, AKA Christina Mark, by Montana assistant attorney general Mary Cochenour. Nelson faces up to 10 years and a $50,000 fine for each charge if convicted.
Billings cases
The six-year-old rape case resurfaced after police in Billings grew suspicious about rape and assault reports made there by Nelson. In several of the reports, the suspect named by Nelson was out of town or out of the state at the time.
Billings Police Det. Denise Baum discovered law enforcement held five SANE rape kits for cases brought by Nelson — one from Columbia Falls in 2009, one allegedly involving an ex-boyfriend in Billings in 2009, and three allegedly involving another ex-boyfriend in 2012.
In Nelson’s most recent report, she claimed an ex-boyfriend raped her in the parking lot of the Billings Planned Parenthood building in August 2012.
Security cameras, however, did not corroborate Nelson’s claim, and credit card and photographic evidence showed that the ex-boyfriend had traveled to Seattle that day.
Nelson also claimed the same ex-boyfriend assaulted her with a knife twice in May 2012, but he was in Missoula on one of the days she claimed she was assaulted.
Nelson was charged in Yellowstone County District Court in December 2012 with one felony count of fabricating evidence. She pleaded not guilty and was released after posting a $20,000 bond.
The case was dismissed in July 2013 when Judge Todd Baugh ruled that the prosecution’s reliance on a sexual assault examination was misplaced. He gave prosecutors 30 days to amend the charges.
The prosecutors appealed, and the Montana Supreme Court reversed the lower court and remanded the case to district court in May 2014.
Prom night
The Columbia Falls incident occurred on Saturday, April 4, 2009, when a male student took Nelson to the high school prom “as friends,” as he later told police. He left alone at the end of the prom, and Nelson caught a ride home with friends.
High school teacher Jenny Lovering later told police she noticed the two weren’t together during the prom and asked Nelson why on Facebook the next day. Nelson replied that her date was aggressive, violent and wouldn’t stop, Lovering said. On Monday, Nelson told Lovering that her date had raped her on the way to the prom, that she felt funny, couldn’t move and couldn’t remember what happened when she woke up naked in a parked car.
The next day, Nelson told Lovering that her date had cut her with a knife. Lovering said she encouraged Nelson to get a rape exam. Nelson agreed and went to Kalispell Regional Medical Center for a SANE exam. Nelson reportedly told the examining nurse that her date had cut her with a knife, strangled her and punched her in the stomach during the rape.
Nelson was reluctant to report the rape to authorities. She told Lovering that she was afraid for herself and her host family. Lovering said she spoke to Columbia Falls High School principal Alan Robbins about Nelson, and he said he couldn’t expel the male student unless Nelson filed charges. Nelson then told the school resource officer, Columbia Falls police officer Todd Mertz.
At one point during the subsequent investigation, Nelson told Flathead County victims advocate Diane Vonderheide that she wanted to drop the charges because the case was too emotional and she was afraid of the boy and his friends. Nelson made it clear the boy and his friends were not pressuring her, but without Nelson’s cooperation, the case was dropped.
Nelson later sent a bill for $8,100 for medical bills related to the alleged rape to the Crime Victims Compensation Program. The claim was denied because Nelson wouldn’t follow through with the case.
The male student that Nelson accused of raping her was not expelled from school and graduated in 2009, according to Columbia Falls High School principal Scott Gaiser.
Arrest warrant
Cochenour filed charges against Nelson in Flathead County in January 2014.
“The five SANE kits initiated and completed by Christina and the two reports of assault show that Christina had a motive or pattern of accusing young men that she had dated of raping her and assaulting her when no such rape or assault occurred,” Cochenour said.
On Feb. 20, Cochenour asked Flathead County District Court Judge Ted Lympus to quash an arrest warrant issued for Nelson and change it to a summons. Cochenour said Nelson was in Europe and would face difficulty returning to the U.S. with an arrest warrant in place.
Cochenour said Nelson was not a U.S. citizen but was married to a man from Circle, with whom they had a child. Cochenour told Lympus that she believed Nelson would return to see her husband and child. Lympus agreed and quashed the arrest warrant.
Nelson, however, did not show up at a May 21 initial appearance hearing. Lympus ordered a bench warrant and set the bond at $100,000, the same amount Nelson faces in Yellowstone County. Nelson was appointed a conditional public defender, and arraignment is scheduled for June 11.