Boy made up story about sexual assault, police say

A 10-year-old boy made up a story that he was sexually assaulted by a man on America Street, according to the Charleston Police Department.

The boy told investigators he was walking home from watching a basketball tournament June 22 when a slender white man who smelled of alcohol walked up from behind, grabbed his neck, pulled him behind a brick wall, kicked him and sodomized him.

The boy actually spent the night at his best friend’s apartment on America Street that night, police spokesman Charles Francis said today. Several witnesses, including his best friend, said he was at the apartment all night.

Investigators talked to witnesses and checked out camera footage of the Mall Park area. They determined that the boy and his friend were at Mall Park that night watching the Charleston Inner-City Midnight Basketball Tournament and then went to the friend’s house, Francis said.

The detective who investigated the case could not determine why the boy reported the fabricated story to family members and the police, Francis said.