A Homestead woman was pregnant and had been drinking hard liquor when she falsely reported a burglary and a strangulation to the Maricopa Police Department on Wednesday, the police said. 

It started at 2 p.m. that day when MPD officers responded to a Thornberry Lane home for a reported burglary.  

Shantrice C. Wilkerson, 40, told cops at the scene that her husband had strangled her and was “armed and dangerous.” 

Wilkerson said that she and her husband got into an argument over gas money and that after becoming irate he began to strangle her with both hands. She then said that out of spite she began to drink liquor despite being pregnant to “get back at him” as he left the house with a firearm.  

However, police noted that Wilkerson had no physical injuries or marks on her body at all.  

Officers were able to locate the husband near Porter and Smith-Enke Roads where they detained and searched him but did not find a firearm.  

When questioned, the husband told police that he and Wilkerson got into a verbal argument over gas money but that he never put his hands on her. 

The husband’s mother then provided police with a text message chain from that day between her and Wilkerson, where Wilkerson said she was going to take a gun and kill her two children and then herself.  

That’s when the husband was released from police custody. 

MPD officers then went back to Wilkerson’s home where she admitted that she lied about the burglary as a ruse to get officers to her house quicker. When questioned about the text message chain, Wilkerson continued to lie until she conceded that she wanted attention from her husband and his mother because they didn’t care about her.  

Due to her murder threats, Wilkerson was placed in protective custody. As a result of her strangulation claims she was also offered a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner exam to which she agreed. However, right before the exam, she backed out.  

Wilkerson was arrested on charges of criminal nuisance and false reporting. If convicted on both counts, she faces seven months in prison.