BAY CITY, MI -- A Saginaw County woman admitted in court that she lied when claiming to have been raped by a stranger in the parking lot of Delta College.

Mary T. Zolkowski, 21, on Tuesday, March 27, appeared before Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran and pleaded guilty to one count of false report of a felony, the only charge she faced. The charge is punishable by up to four years' imprisonment and a $2,000 fine, though Sheeran has indicated he'll sentence her to probation and not impose incarceration on her initial sentence.

Zolkowski said she committed her crime on Feb. 22.

"I called Delta College and falsely reported the rape on their campus," Zolkowski told the judge. "My mother made the initial call and I took the phone and continued to report."

Sheeran asked Zolkowski why her mom called the college in the first place.

"She was concerned for me," Zolkowski replied.

"Had you told her something that made her call?" the judge asked.

"Yes, I told her I was raped," Zolkowski said. "I told them it happened in the back parking lot. I didn't say who by."

"Did you ever name or accuse any individual?"

"No."

"Why did you do that?" the judge continued.

"I was assaulted previously, not at Delta's campus," Zolkowski said. "And because I was ashamed of circumstances of that, when my mother called, I vented through Delta, which was very wrong of me. I should have been truthful from the very beginning, and I used Delta."

Sheeran did not ask her to elaborate on the specifics of her claim to having been previously assaulted.

Zolkowski's attorney, James F. Piazza, said his client has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, conditions for which she is receiving treatment.

"She has been and will continue to be on psychotropic medication related to her illness," Piazza said. He added that she is engaged to be married and plans on going back to school.

Case background

When Zolkowski first spoke with police over the phone on the night of Feb. 22, she said that about 5:50 p.m. that day she had been walking to her vehicle on the campus at 1961 Delta Road in Frankenlust Township, fumbling with her keys, when a man grabbed her from behind. She said he grabbed her face and throat and proceeded to rape her, without wearing a condom.

When it was over, the assailant jumped into the passenger seat of a vehicle and took off. Zolkowski could not provide a description of the vehicle, adding she "kind of blacked out," court records show. She only described her attacker as a black man.

Police began a lengthy investigation, despite Zolkowski expressing unwillingness to participate or submit to a physical examination. During it, investigators learned a parolee with sexual assault convictions was on campus at the time of the alleged attack. He denied any knowledge of the incident and passed a polygraph test.

At one point, Zolkowski told investigators she dropped her classes at Delta due to the attack, but police learned she had in fact dropped her classes prior to Feb. 22.

After failing to turn up any evidence that the sexual assault had occurred, police again spoke with Zolkowski, who changed her story to say she had been raped by an acquaintance earlier on Feb. 22 at his Saginaw Township apartment.

She did not want this man prosecuted, she told police.

Police interviewed the man Zolkowski named as her assailant. He said he had been with Zolkowski on Feb. 22 and that they had engaged in consensual sexual intercourse. He provided investigators with text messages they had exchanged, in which Zolkowski claims to have been raped by a stranger at Walmart after they had separated. In another message, Zolkowski asks the man not to participate in the police investigation, court records show.

Zolkowski is free on bond. Judge Sheeran is to sentence her at 9 a.m. on Monday, May 7.