Wood: "I did it to myself. I used a guitar string."
Kyle Wood, the Republican campaign worker charged with obstruction for fabricating a story about being attacked at his home, will appear in Dane County Circuit Court on March 14.
Wood could be fined up to $10,000 for telling a false story to a police officer or sentenced to prison for up to nine months.
Court records don't list an attorney for Wood, but he could show up to his hearing Thursday with one or, depending on his financial status, be referred to the State Public Defender's office for an appointment, according to Dane County Clerk of Court Carlo Esqueda.
Wood does not have a listed phone number and could not be reached for comment.
At the time of his alleged attack, Wood, who is gay, was working for Chad Lee, the Republican candidate for the 2nd Congressional District seat vacated by Tammy Baldwin. Lee's opponent was Mark Pocan, then a state representative, who is openly gay. Wood said he was targeted because of his sexual orientation and political affiliation.
Wood also told media five days after his alleged attack that he had received lurid and harassing text messages from Pocan's husband. Lee recanted that story as well, but not before it spread widely online.
According to the criminal complaint filed by the Dane County District Attorney's Office, Madison police officer Andrya Coutts responded on Oct. 24 to a potential burglary or invasion at Wood's Madison home.
Wood was "sobbing with tears on his face and mucus running down his nose," according to the report. There was blood on his mouth and an injury to his forehead.
Wood told Coutts that a man, approximately six feet tall with a heavy, muscular build, had entered his residence through an unlocked back door and began battering him.
The attacker wrapped something around his throat that felt like a string, Wood said. Wood also said that his attacker pushed his head into a mirror while saying, "You should have kept your fucking mouth shut. We warned you."
Wood told Coutts that he had been receiving harassing text messages for about two months but claimed that while he had saved them on his computer, they were no longer on his phone.
After Wood was transported to Meriter Hospital, Det. Michelle Reisterer interviewed him about the alleged attack. Wood said he would not name who was sending him harassing text messages. When Reisterer asked to download the information from his phone, Wood said that he would not pursue pressing charges if forced to share his phone records.
On Oct. 29, Media Trackers, a conservative nonprofit funded by American Majority, which recruits and trains tea party candidates, ran a long blog post proclaiming "Mark Pocan's Husband Told Beaten GOP Operative 'You're a Marked Man,' Threatened and Harassed Via Text Message." Later deleted, it was based on information provided by Wood. Other conservative media outlets subsequently picked up the story.
Reisterer interviewed Wood again on Oct. 29 and asked him to address inconsistencies in his reports of the attack. At first Wood stuck to his story but then admitted he had made it all up.
"You're right," he told the detective. "I did it to myself. I used a guitar string."
Wood said he struck himself with a rock from an aquarium and injured his eye and forehead by ramming his own head into the mirror. He said that he had come up with the plan the previous week and that no one else knew the attack was made up.
The complaint contains no information on a motive for Wood.
