Sacramento police responded to a 911 call from the Martinez home on Norgard Court last April and found Laurie Ann Martinez lying on the floor, crying hysterically.

Her shirt was ripped open, her lip split, her knuckles scraped. She told officers she had come home to find a strange man who knocked her unconscious, raped her and robbed her. She went with them to the hospital for an evidentiary exam.

It was, police allege, all a lie – one concocted to persuade her husband to move to another neighborhood.

On Monday, officers arrested the 36-year-old Martinez – a licensed psychologist for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation – on suspicion of two counts of criminal conspiracy, according to authorities.

In court documents, police detectives and the Sacramento County District Attorney's Office allege that Martinez, with the help of friend Nicole April Snyder, staged the entire scene.

Martinez used sandpaper to scuff up her hands, a pin to cut her lip, they allege. She reportedly ripped open her shirt to expose her breasts and urinated on herself to convince officers she had been knocked out.

Snyder, now 33, used boxing gloves, purchased at the direction of Martinez, to rough up her friend's face, according to the documents. And then she hid in her own home items that Martinez would later tell police had been stolen, including two laptop computers, her purse and an Xbox, the documents state.

Efforts to reach Martinez, who was released Monday on $50,000 bail, were unsuccessful. She is scheduled to be arraigned next Monday.

David Martinez, who court records indicate is divorcing his wife, declined to comment.

As a "senior psychologist, supervisor," Laurie Martinez oversees a team of clinicians who treat inmates with mental health issues at California State Prison, Sacramento, formerly called New Folsom Prison. Though she technically remains assigned there, she was "redirected" to headquarters – where she no longer has contact with inmates – pending the outcome of the criminal investigation, said CDCR spokeswoman Terry Thornton.

As of Thursday night, Thornton said she did not know whether Martinez had been placed on "administrative time off" as a result of the criminal charges. "If she hasn't been, … it's likely she will be," Thornton said.

Martinez's state license, issued by the Board of Psychology, remains valid, according to online records last updated Wednesday.

Snyder had not been arrested by Thursday night, though a warrant is out for her arrest. Her father told The Bee she is out of town until Saturday and that he was not aware of the case, nor does he know Martinez.

On Nov. 30, the DA's office filed two felony counts each against Martinez and Snyder alleging conspiracy to commit crime and conspiracy to commit "any act injurious to the public health, to public morals, or to pervert or obstruct justice, or the due administration of laws."

If convicted, each defendant faces three years in prison, the DA's office said.

The criminal complaint states that the charges stem from a false report to police April 10.

Shortly after 2 p.m. that day, Martinez called 911 to report a home-invasion robbery and sexual assault in Sacramento's Northgate neighborhood, according to a request for an arrest warrant written by Detective Joyce Thorgrimson.

Police investigated the crime as such until April 21, when CDCR internal affairs detectives called to say a co-worker of Martinez's claimed that Martinez had faked the ordeal, Thorgrimson wrote.

Two co-workers interviewed separately by police said Martinez had made comments that she couldn't get her husband to move to a "safer, more desirable neighborhood," so she was thinking of staging a crime at the house, the detective wrote.

One co-worker said Martinez had mentioned choosing April 10 because she would not have custody of her 5-year-old daughter on that day. (She did, however, have her 10-month-old son at home when she dialed 911).

In separate interviews May 4, detectives spoke to Snyder and Martinez, both of whom admitted the scheme, Thorgrimson wrote. Martinez also reportedly admitted the motive.

While at Snyder's home, officers recovered the items the women reportedly had hidden there – all but Martinez's wedding ring, which she allegedly told police she had tossed on the side of the road.

The Bee spoke to the co-worker who came forward to internal affairs. She asked that The Bee not use her name because she fears retaliation.

The co-worker said she blew the whistle because she was disturbed by how "calculated" the conspiracy was. Psychologists adhere to a professional code of ethics and are held to a higher behavioral standard, she said.

"The fact that someone who has been entrusted with care of other people … behaves in this manner – I don't think she should be able (to practice psychology)," she said. "I think the state has an obligation to protect the public from that."

Beth Hassett, executive director of Women Escaping a Violent Environment, said false reports of sexual assault are extremely rare: She cited a U.S. Department of Justice statistic that only 2.5 percent of reports turn out to be false.

But such reports erode the work advocates do to empower real victims to come forward, Hassett said.

"It reinforces the myth that nobody is going to believe you if you really were assaulted," she said.

"As advocates for victims, we get frustrated at how few cases actually get filed and how few actually end up going to trial. This kind of thing just sets everybody back."

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