McCain worker reaches deal in hoax assault

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Police say 20-year-old can't explain why she made up the story

Keith Srakocic / AP
Ashley Todd, a 20-year-old college student from College Station, Texas, told investigators she made up a story about a politically motivated knife attack.
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Police: McCain Volunteer Changes ATM Attack Story


updated 8:44 a.m. PT, Thurs., Oct. 30, 2008
PITTSBURGH - A McCain campaign volunteer accused of making up a story about being robbed and assaulted in Pittsburgh by a man who disliked her McCain bumper sticker will enter a program for first-time offenders.

Under the deal announced in court Thursday, 20-year-old Ashley Todd will be released from jail and required to undergo mental health treatment. Her record eventually will be expunged as long as she goes to treatment, stays out of trouble and keeps authorities apprised of her whereabouts.

Todd, of College Station, Texas, has been jailed since Oct. 24, when police say she admitted making up a story about being robbed near a Pittsburgh bank and then assaulted by a man who scraped a backward letter "B" into her cheek.

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