Story highlights The woman pleads not guilty to lying to police, her attorney says 
 
 "This has been kind of a kick in the gut as a victim to ... be charged," lawyer says 
 
 Charlie Rogers told police she was attacked in her home last month 
 
 Authorities now say the incident was staged 
 
 A Nebraska "hate crime" that targeted an openly gay woman and that triggered responses from candlelight vigils locally to Facebook postings of support nationwide was staged by the alleged victim, authorities said Tuesday as they charged the woman with lying to police. 
 
 Charlie Rogers -- a former basketball player for the University of Nebraska who identifies herself as lesbian -- told police that three masked men entered her home on July 22, stripped her, tied her down, and carved homophobic slurs into her body before attempting to set her and the house on fire. 
 
 But the Lincoln Police Department said Tuesday that "the physical evidence conflicted with Charlie Rogers' version of events" and that "extensive investigation revealed numerous inconsistencies." 
 
 Rogers was arrested Tuesday, police said. 
 
 Her attorney, Brett McArthur, told CNN Tuesday night that Rogers had agreed as part of an arrangement to turn herself in, in exchange for a personal recognizance bond. 
 
 "She did not have to post any money" to be released, McArthur said, adding that his client pleaded not guilty to the charge of lying to police. 
 
 "She maintains her innocence. This has been kind of a kick in the gut as a victim to turn around and be charged," McArthur said. 
 
 The police in Lincoln, Nebraska, arrested Charlie Rogers on charges of filing a false report. 
 
 In a news release, police cited DNA and pathologists' examinations that did not substantiate Rogers' original statements, and changes in her story during the investigation. 
 
 "These were serious allegations that garnered national attention and spread fear among local citizens," the police statement said. "A great deal of time and resources were spent investigating Charlie Rogers' claims in hopes of identifying and arresting the three suspects in this case." 
 
 Beth Rigatuso, president of Heartland Pride based in Omaha, organized a vigil that attracted over 1,000 people in the aftermath of the reported attack. 
 
 For her, the news that it may have been a hoax is "a pretty big blow." 
 
 "I don't feel betrayed as much as I feel sad for how, if this is really true...there is a lot of things going on with her," Rigatuso said. "It leads to a bigger problem in our society that someone would do this." 
 
 Rigatuso said she hopes people would not turn their backs on Rogers now. 
 
 The vigil she put together in Omaha raised more than $1,800, all of which was deposited in an account for Rogers. 
 
 "We'd like to get the funds returned to us so we can establish our own fund to support victims of anti-gay violence." Rigatuso said Tuesday. 
 
 McArthur, Rogers' attorney, said he "knows nothing" about the fund or how much money might be in it. He said it was in place before he became Rogers' lawyer. 
 
 According to the Lincoln Police Department complaint, Rogers, 33, provided information "she knew to be false" with the intent to "instigate an investigation of an alleged criminal matter." 
 
 Rogers reported to police that she was lying on her bed when the alleged attackers held her down and carved "derogatory words" into her arms and abdomen and "a cross" in her chest. She told police she was then rolled onto her stomach where more cuts were made. 
 
 But according to a deposition from Lincoln police investigator Lynette Russell filed as part of the complaint, Rogers bedspread was "evenly placed on the bed and no apparent sign of a struggle." A DNA lab test found no evidence of blood on the bedspread. 
 
 Russell also described a pair of white gloves found at the scene that Rogers had said were not hers. 
 
 "Ms. Rogers DNA profile was the major contributor to the DNA located on the inside of the gloves," Russell said. 
 
 Furthermore, the deposition said, the FBI sent photos of Rogers' cuts to a forensic pathologist, who believed the wounds to be self-inflicted. 
 
 "This opinion is based partially on the fact that the cuts appeared superficial and symmetrical, avoided sensitive areas of the body,...are accessible to the victim and follow the victim's frame of reference for reading and writing," the deposition said. 
 
 Rumors had been circulating in recent weeks in Lincoln and on the Internet due to the fact that police had yet to pinpoint any suspects. The urge to respond to rumors prompted Rogers to give her one and only interview. 
 
 "For people to think this doesn't happen here, it does," Rogers told CNN affiliate KETV on July 27. "It did." 
 
 She refused to discuss the incident itself during that interview. 
 
 Rogers' attorney at the time, Megan Mikolajczyk, told CNN her client was ready for a full interview early last week, but canceled saying "things have changed." 
 
 Mikolajczyk said Tuesday that she is no longer Rogers' attorney. 
 
 According to neighbor Linda Rappl, Rogers' showed up on her doorstep bloodied in the early morning hours immediately following the alleged attack last month. 
 
 "I was in shock," Rappl said soon after the incident. "She was naked, her hands were tied with zip ties. All I could see was a cut across her forehead and blood running down." 
 
 Rappl said she took the sobbing Rogers inside and wrapped her in a blanket before calling 911. ||||| A former University of Nebraska women's basketball star faked an attack in which she allegedly carved anti-gay slurs into her skin because she felt it would spark change, police said Tuesday. 
 
 Four days before Charlie Rogers crawled naked and bleeding from her Lincoln home, screaming for help, she outlined in a Facebook posting what investigators believe was her motive for faking the July 22 attack, Police Chief Jim Peschong said at a news conference. 
 
 "So maybe I am too idealistic, but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me," read the July 18 posting, according to police. 
 
 Furthermore, genetic testing on evidence gathered at the crime scene undermines Rogers' account of what happened, Peschong said. 
 
 Charlie Rogers, 33, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to making a false police report and was released on her own recognizance. She didn't respond to a message seeking comment left Tuesday at a number listed as hers, but her lawyer, Brett McArthur, said she maintains the attack happened and plans to vigorously defend herself. 
 
 "This has been a very traumatic event for her, and having the focus of the investigation turn toward her has been really hard," said McArthur, who described Rogers as reserved and soft-spoken, and not the type to seek attention. 
 
 "She has no reason to lie about what happened. She's pretty devastated, when you go to authorities and things kind of get turned around on you," he said. 
 
 Rogers, a lesbian who ranks second all-time in blocked shots for the Cornhuskers, reported the attack amid a charged debate in Lincoln over the city's proposed "fairness ordinance," which would ban discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. The City Council approved the ordinance in May, 5-0, but two conservative groups gathered enough signatures to force a popular vote on it before it can take effect. 
 
 According to police, Rogers said three masked men broke into her home, and that one of them pinned her down while another sliced a cross into her chest, cut the front of her thighs and shins and carved derogatory words in her arms and abdomen. She said they then rolled her onto her stomach and cut her buttocks, the back of her thighs and the back of her right calf. She also said they tried to burn down her house. 
 
 Rogers crawled from her home naked, bleeding and screaming for help, a neighbor told police. The community's gay community responded swiftly, and hundreds turned out for a rally that weekend outside the state Capitol. 
 
 On Tuesday, four Nebraska gay-rights groups that followed the case released a joint statement crediting police for conducting what they believe was a balanced and thorough investigation. 
 
 "It is important not to focus on the actions of any single individual," the groups said in the statement. "As residents of Lincoln we must continue to bring our community together to declare that violence and hate are not the values of our city." 
 
 According to Peschong, police found a pile of clothes, white knit gloves and a red box cutter on the living room floor after the alleged attack. Rogers said the gloves didn't belong to her, but investigators determined that a lot of the DNA found inside the glove was Rogers' and that none of it came from a male. 
 
 Peschong said investigators discovered that Rogers deleted numerous text messages she had sent the evening of the alleged attack, and that she bought cotton gloves, a box cutter and zip ties from an Ace Hardware Store in Lincoln on July 17. All of the items were later found in her house, he said. When confronted about the evidence weeks later, he said, Rogers admitted to purchasing all of the items except the gloves. 
 
 She also sent a photo of a cross-shaped cut on her chest to a friend a few days before the reported attack, Peschong said. 
 
 Investigators say they found no apparent sign of a struggle in the living room where Rogers said she was attacked, and no blood on the sheets where the cutting allegedly took place. An FBI forensic pathologist concluded that Rogers either cut herself, or allowed someone else to do it. 
 
 Peschong said the department spent thousands of dollars investigating the case, but he stressed that the case will not undermine the department's trust in people who report hate crimes. 
 
 "The FBI, the Bureau of Fire Prevention and the Lincoln Police Department have spent an exorbitant amount of time and personnel resources investigating this," he said. "We aggressively investigated this. Every day since this incident has happened, there have been investigators working on trying to identify who these assailants were."
– A former University of Nebraska women's basketball star who claimed to be the victim of an anti-gay attack appears to have staged the attack herself out of a desire to spark social change, police say. Charlie Rogers, who told police last month that three men had entered her house, stripped her, and carved anti-gay slurs on her body, has been charged with lying to police, CNN reports. Police say their investigation uncovered numerous inconsistencies in her story, and that physical evidence, including DNA, did not support Rogers' version of events. An FBI forensic pathologist determined that Rogers' wounds were self-inflicted. Four days before the alleged attack, she made a post on Facebook that investigators believe underscores her motive, AP reports. "I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone," she wrote. "I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me." Rogers, who ranks second all-time in blocked shots for the Cornhuskers, has pleaded not guilty. Her lawyer says she has been devastated by investigators' decision to focus on her.