No White Lie!

[TexasStooge]

Three 12-year-olds arrested after lying to cover up tardiness

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) — Three 12-year-old girls were hauled out of school in handcuffs after police accused them of making up a story that sent a homeless man to jail for eight months.

The girls were arrested Monday and taken to a juvenile-detention center. One was also charged with perjury.

Last spring, the girls, then 11, told police they were stalked and attacked by Eric Nordmark, a 36-year-old hitchhiker, at a park in the Garden Grove region of Los Angeles. Nordmark was jailed on seven counts of assault and child molestation.

One of the girls later admitted she and her friends made up the story to cover for her tardiness at school. The charges were dropped, and Nordmark was released.

Shirley MacDonald Juarez, an attorney for one of the girls, criticized the way police handled the case. "These girls have been totally cooperative with police. There was no need for this," she said.

Police said they may have erred in showing all three girls the same lineup of suspect photos, inadvertently helping them conspire to identify the same person.