Schuylkill County Woman Jailed for Faking Assault Claim That Landed Boyfriend in Jail

A Schuylkill County woman reportedly admitted to police Friday that she made up a story about her boyfriend assaulting her because she was having a bad day.

Her initial false report landed 34-year-old John Casella in Schuylkill County Prison on $25,000 bail. He’s since been released and now the woman whose story sent him to jail, Jessica Didow, 48, is behind bars.

Police in Pottsville say they were dispatched to the emergency room of Lehigh Valley Hospital-East in the city back on Oct. 1 for a reported assault victim. There, Didow told police that the previous day, her boyfriend had attacked her with garden shears, choked her, and threatened to stab her in the neck.

Didow said this all occurred after she told Casella to pack his belongings and leave.

But at about noon on Friday, police say Didow came to City Hall and agreed to an interview.

During that interview, she reportedly said she’d made up the entire story about Casella assaulting her.

Instead, she said that on Sept. 30, she was having a bad day and got into a verbal argument with Casella. During that argument, Didow reportedly charged at Casella with a drill and scratched his face with her fingers.

She said that Casella only pushed her and tried to cover her mouth with his hand when she started screaming at him.

The next day, Casella reportedly didn’t return Didow’s calls, she got mad, and concocted this assault story.

She told police that the injuries she said were the result of her blocking the shears that Casella apparently didn’t use to attack her were actually caused by doing construction work at her home.

Didow was taken across the street to Magisterial District Judge James Reiley and arraigned on misdemeanor charges of simple assault and making a false report as well as a summary offense of harassment.

Reiley set bail at $20,000 cash for Didow and she was sent to Schuylkill County Prison.

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