Connecticut Student Arrested for Fabricating Antigay Notes

A Central Connecticut State University student has been arrested and suspended from attending any state university campus for five years for fabricating antigay notes against herself, according to CBS Connecticut.

Lexi Pennell, 19, confessed to police that she had written the notes after a hidden camera installed outside her dorm room captured her sliding a note under her own door on April 5, according to the arrest warrant (PDF).

She was arrested May 9 on charges of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, falsely reporting an incident, interfering with an officer and making a false statement to police.

In early March, Pennell reported finding gay slurs written on a dry-erase board outside her room as well as on papers attached to and slipped under her door.

Hundreds of CCSU students held a rally March 13 against hate crimes and to show their support for Pennell.

In a letter to her roommate, Pennell said she fabricated the notes because she feared her friends and her girlfriend were slipping away, and she continued to write them for the attention.

University spokesman Mark McLaughlin said in a statement: "While we are confident that the perpetrator has been identified, we are nonetheless saddened by the student's actions, which are likely to bring serious consequences for her. We remain proud, however, of the campus community's response to what we believed was an act of bias, and we reaffirm now what was said then: acts of bias and hate will not be tolerated at CCSU."

Pennell is due in court in New Britain, Conn., July 26.