An Alabama woman has been charged with lying to the police after faking her own highway kidnapping, according to local authorities.
Carlethia “Carlee” Russell, 25, was arrested Friday for false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident, according to a Friday press conference by the Hoover Police Department. Both charges are class A misdemeanors and carry a $1,000 bond.
Russell was booked and released on bond from the Hoover City Jail on Friday, according to AL.com, a local news outlet. (RELATED: Restaurant Customers Allegedly Beat Teen Employee Unconscious Over Seating Arrangements)
Russell had reportedly been kidnapped after stopping to help a toddler alongside I-459, sparking large-scale investigation and two days of searches. Then, during a July 24 press conference Russell admitted in a statement via her lawyer, Emory Anthony, to fabricating the incident.
“Her decisions that night created panic and alarm for the citizens of our city, and even across the nation as concern grew that a kidnapper was on the loose, using a small child as bait,” Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis said during the Friday press conference.
Derzis outlined frustration within the community that Carlee was only being charged with two misdemeanors, stating that he shared the same frustrations.
“The existing law only allows the charges that were filed, to be filed. I can tell you that I will be contacting our state legislators on behalf of law enforcement in Montgomery and asking them to look at this law as applied to these facts and urge them to add an enhancement to the current legislation when someone falsely reports a kidnapping or other violent crime.”
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall joined the press conference stating he would assemble a team to prosecute the case.
“We don’t see this as a victimless crime,” Marshall stated.