By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — WABC-TV anchor Heidi Jones received round-the-clock NYPD protection before confessing she lied about being attacked by a man in Central Park, the New York Daily News reported.
Sources told the paper that six detectives protected the 37-year-old weather anchor for three weeks after she said a man tried to rape her, with taxpayers picking up the tab.
"The order came from the higher-ups," the source told the News. "We were providing 24-hours protection. It's rarely done."
The cops escorted the anchor around the city, going to places including Union Square flea market, the movies and restaurants, and accompanied her while she walked her dog along the West Side Highway, the paper wrote.
They reportedly even drove her to work.
While being protected, Jones reportedly missed meetings about her case with prosecutors from the Manhattan district attorney's office and Internal Affairs detectives, the paper reported.
Last month, Jones told police that a man grabbed her from behind while she was jogging in the park on Sept. 24. She went back to the NYPD to tell them that the same person harassed her outside her apartment two months after the first attack.
Investigators canvassed the area in Central Park where she claimed to have been attacked for witnesses and video. When police did not find anything, they spoke with Jones again and confronted her about inconsistencies in her story. She admitted she'd made it up.
WABC-TV suspended Jones pending an internal investigation after she was arrested on Monday for allegedly lying to police. Jones, who anchors the local news station's weekend evening weather and fills in on "Good Morning America," was charged on Monday with filing a false police report, the NYPD said.
She is due to appear in court on Jan. 5. She faces fines and up to a year in jail if convicted.
