Megan Williams, Who Claimed She was Gang-Raped and Forced to Eat Her Feces by Group of White Men, to Recant Her Story, Deja Vu for Rev. Al Sharpton

It seems like deja vu all over again for Rev. Al Sharpton. He revealed today that he gave a $1,000 Christmas gift card to Megan Williams, the African American girl from West Virginia who claimed she was gang-raped by a group of white men. She is now recanting her story and plans to call a press conference to apologize. After she apologizes, the cops should arrest her for filing a false report. Rev. Al wants cops to investigate whether the woman "fabricated her story" and the convicted men released right away "if they are being held under false information and she misled authorities."

You will recall that Williams, 22, told cops in 2007 she escaped from a ramshackle trailer near Charleston, W.V., where she was held captive for a week - and where she was raped, tortured, and forced to eat her own feces. Seven suspects pleaded guilty, and all but one are now serving long jail terms. Why would anyone plead guilty to a crime they did not commit?

Sharpton said he visited Williams after her horrific story broke and gave her some of his "personal money" after her supporters told him "she had no resources for Christmas."

Sharpton said that when Williams' lawyer notified him that she was changing her story, he immediately wrote to West Virginia prosecutors, asking them to "vindicate any wrongfully convicted individuals."

Brian Abraham, the former Logan County prosecutor who oversaw the Williams rape case, told the Associated Press he was mystified by her change of story. Abraham said the attackers - all of whom had lengthy rap sheets - were convicted on physical evidence and their own statements. Source: NY Daily News

This revelation couldn't come at a worst time for Sharpton, who is engaged in a war of words with conservative nutjob Rush Limbaugh. Sharpton was a vocal supporter of Brawley, a black teenager who made what turned out to be lies, more than two decades ago, of being kidnapped and raped by a group of white men. A grand jury ruling declared Brawley's explosive allegations were nothing more than a hoax. Sorry, for any one who deliberately misleads a court of law and the police, the punishment when the truth is revealed should be severe. If she will recant her statements, she should be locked up for a long time. The only people who should be present at this press conference are police officers and her attorney. She should be locked up immediately for what she did.

When her allegations went public in 2007, Sharpton rallied to her side and pressed authorities to indict the accused attackers for hate crimes, even as local NAACP leaders urged restraint, that's according to the NY Post. "Our involvement surrounded a call for hate-crime investigations and we did not know the truths or nontruths of the investigation," Sharpton said in a statement yesterday. The woman said her adopted mother forced her to make those allegations of rape and battery, among other things. They also managed to collect $70,000 in donations from people who really cared about this woman's plight and wanted to help her in any way they could.
Photo credit: Megan Williams, AP/Hung