Story highlights Alleged hate crime victims were actually the perpetrators, police say

3 black students said they were assaulted by a group of white men and women

Charges against the women include assault and falsely reporting an incident

(CNN) Three State University of New York at Albany students who claimed to be hate crime victims are being accused of fabricating a racially motivated attack, according to campus police.

The charges against the women, which include assault and falsely reporting an incident, come weeks after the upstate New York university held a rally in support of the black students, who said they were attacked by a group of white men and women during a confrontation on a bus January 30.

Days after the alleged assault, university President Robert J. Jones said in a letter to students and faculty that he was "deeply concerned, saddened and angry about this incident."

But the university police department said a three-week investigation found the three women actually assaulted another passenger, were not subjected to racial epithets and falsely reported the alleged crime.

"The evidence shows that, contrary to how the defendants originally portrayed things, these three individuals were not the victims of a crime," university Police Chief Frank Wiley said in the statement. "Rather, we allege that they are the perpetrators."

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