An Alabama woman who has acknowledged making up a story that she was kidnapped along an interstate after stopping to help a child has been charged in the case, officials said.
An Alabama woman who has acknowledged making up a story that she was kidnapped along an interstate after stopping to help a child has been charged in the case, officials said Friday. Carlee Russell faces two misdemeanor counts, false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident, that could bring a year in jail, the AP reports. Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said Russell turned herself in Friday and was released on bond. He expressed frustration that the law only provides for the misdemeanor charges and said Russell’s actions caused unnecessary alarm. “Numerous law enforcement agencies, both local and federal, began working tireless not only to bring Carlee home to her family but locate a kidnapper that we now know never existed,” he said. “Many private citizens volunteered their time and energy in looking for a potential kidnapping victim that we know now was never in any danger.
