ROCKLAND, Maine — A Rockland woman who was convicted earlier this month of making a false sexual assault report to police will be spending 60 days in jail.

Octavia Faustini was sentenced Wednesday afternoon in Knox County Superior Court by Justice Jeffrey Hjelm to the jail term for convictions on two counts — filing a false report and unsworn falsification. A jury had convicted her on Aug. 1.





Both crimes were in connection to her report last fall to Rockland police that she had been sexually assaulted by a former boyfriend who was a convicted sex offender. She had claimed that the assault occurred in her room at the Brunswick Rooms in Rockland.

Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Baroody asked for a 90-day jail term. He said a significant jail term was needed as deterrence. Faustini has a criminal record that includes a 2002 conviction for filing a false report of sexual assault, the prosecutor said. She was fined $100 in that case.

Faustini’s criminal record also includes assaulting an officer, assault, criminal mischief and telephone harassment, Baroody said.

Hjelm agreed a significant jail sentence was warranted because of Faustini’s record as well as her manipulating the criminal justice system and taking up police time for a crime that did not occur. He also said that the false allegation had a potentially significant negative effect on her former boyfriend.

Defense attorney Joseph Steinberger asked that sentencing be delayed for a year to allow Faustini to perform community service to show that she can be a productive citizen. He suggested she could volunteer five hours a week at either the Humane Society of Knox County or at New Hope for Women.

Steinberger said his client suffered from significant mental illness and is supported by Social Security disability payments.

Faustini’s mental health caseworker and an employee of New Hope spoke on her behalf.

Both crimes for which Faustini was convicted were Class D misdemeanors, which carried a maximum potential penalty of 364 days in jail.