Heidi Jones, Former KTRK Weather Star, Falsely Claims Rape, Cops Say

Heidi Jones told cops she was raped in Central Park

Jones, 37, who now works for WABC, has been charged with the Class A misdemeanor of filing a false report, the New York Post reports.

Last month, Jones told cops she was jogging in Central Park in September "when a Hispanic man in his 30s or 40s grabbed her from behind, dragged her into a wooded area and attempted to rape her," the paper reports. She said two passers-by came to her aid.

She waited two months to file the report, she told police, because the same man threatened her again in November.

Cops dug up security video and tried to get witnesses, but got nowhere.

Coming up empty-handed, they went to talk to Jones again -- and noticed inconsistencies in her story, the sources said.

After being confronted with the discrepancies, Jones admitted that she had pulled the story out of thin air, the sources said.

The paper says "she concocted the tale in a plea for sympathy to counter some unknown setback that she was experiencing in her personal life."