Published: October 30, 2008 12:51 pm      

McCain worker makes deal in made-up assault case

PITTSBURGH — A McCain campaign volunteer accused of making up a story about being assaulted in Pittsburgh by a man who disliked her McCain bumper sticker will enter a program for first-time offenders.

Twenty-year-old Ashley Todd, of College Station, Texas, will be released from jail and be required to undergo mental health treatment. Her record eventually will be expunged as long as she goes to treatment, stays out of trouble and keeps authorities apprised of her whereabouts.

Todd has been jailed since Friday, when police say she admitted making up a story about being robbed near a Pittsburgh bank and then assaulted a man who scraped a backward letter “B” into her cheek.

Pittsburgh police say Todd couldn’t explain why she invented the story.