Ex-cop’s ‘bored’ wife admits making false sex claim
“In Delaware County, we take any report of assault seriously. The fact that Shian Mengini fabricated this serious allegation because she was angry with her husband and bored is both criminal and inexcusable.”
— District Attorney Katayoun M. Copeland in a release announcing Shian Mengini’s arrest in May
MEDIA COURTHOUSE >> A former Upland police officer’s wife was given two years of probation Monday after entering a negotiated guilty plea to making a false police report that she was sexually assaulted by another woman, a second-degree misdemeanor.
Shian Skylar Mengini, 18, formerly of the 400 block of Juniper Lane and now living in Maryland, filed the report because she was bored and angry at her husband of about three months, according to Delaware County and Upland authorities.
“In Delaware County, we take any report of assault seriously,” said District Attorney Katayoun M. Copeland in a release announcing Mengini’s arrest in May. “The fact that Shian Mengini fabricated this serious allegation because she was angry with her husband and bored is both criminal and inexcusable.”
Mengini has been free on $15,000 unsecured bail since her preliminary arraignment May 8, according to online court records. Defense attorney David Daniel asked that Common Pleas Court Judge John Capuzzi transfer supervision to Maryland, where her health care providers are located. Assistant District Attorney Michael Hill had no objection.
Upland police recused themselves from the investigation immediately after Mengini filed a report of a sexual assault on April 20 at the Upland Police Department because Mengini’s husband was a member of the police department. Delaware County Detective Sgt. Kenneth Bellis and Detective Michael Palmer took over the investigation.
Mengini was taken to Crozer-Chester Medical Center for an evaluation after filing her report, where she told the county detectives that a woman she met online came to her home and began kissing her, according to the release.
“Mengini claimed that she locked herself in a bathroom and told the woman she was married,” according to the release. “Mengini said when she unlocked the bathroom door, the woman entered the bathroom and undressed Mengini, touching her in a sexual way, thereafter following her into the bedroom.”
Mengini said she then ran out of the house to the police department to report the sexual assault.
Officer Stephen Mengini unexpectedly resigned from his part-time position from the Upland Police Department April 25, the same day he spoke to detectives about the allegation. He told investigators his wife had received threatening messages from the other woman’s husband, according to the release, but Shian Mengeni ultimately admitted that she had sent the threatening messages to herself using spoofed numbers.
“During the interview with detectives, Mengini admitted that the sexual encounter she had with the other woman was consensual, and she had falsely claimed she had been sexually assaulted because she was mad at her husband and had nothing to occupy her time as she did not have friends in the area,” the release says.