An Alabama woman who confessed to fabricating a kidnapping story has been charged with falsely reporting an incident to law enforcement, according to authorities.
Speaking at a news conference on July 28, Hoover Police Department Chief Nicholas Derzis said Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell has been charged with two misdemeanors: filing a false police report and making false statements to investigators.
Both charges have a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $6,000, Mr. Derzis indicated, noting that Ms. Russell was released on a $2,000 bond—$1,000 for each misdemeanor—after turning herself in at the Hoover City Jail with the assistance of her attorney.
“I know many are shocked and appalled that Ms. Russell is only being charged with two misdemeanors, despite all the panic and disruption her actions caused,” the police chief said.
“Let me assure you, I too share the same frustration,” he continued. “But existing laws only allow the charges that were filed to be filed.”
Ms. Russell’s disappearance set off a frantic search effort involving local, state, and federal agencies. A large group of volunteers organized by her parents also assisted in the search.
The abduction quickly became a national news story as images of the 25-year-old nursing student were shared broadly on social media. During the search, there was also a reward of $20,000 for information leading to her safe return, police said.
Jonathan Gilliam, a former FBI agent, told Fox News Digital that Ms. Russell could be on the hook for portions of the cost of the investigation into her disappearance, which he said may surpass $100,000.
“You know, you’re looking at dozens of man hours plus the fact that somebody could get wrongly convicted or killed … the cost and the safety of it adds up very quickly,” Mr. Gilliam said.
Investigation
Ms. Russell has admitted through her attorney that she lied about the kidnapping when she called 911 to report seeing a young child walking along the side of an interstate about 10 miles from Hoover.
“There was no kidnapping on Thursday, July 13,” Ms. Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, said in a statement that was read by Mr. Derzis at a news conference on July 24. Her client did not leave the city, and acted alone, the police chief noted.
“My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well, as to her friends and family,” Mr. Anthony said. “We ask for your prayers for Carlee, as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward, understanding that she made a mistake in this matter.”
After Ms. Russell reported seeing a wandering toddler on July 13, she suddenly disappeared before showing up again at her parents’ home on July 15, nearly 49 hours after calling 911, prompting intense speculation about where she had been and what had happened to her.
Ms. Russell told detectives that she was taken by a man who came out of the trees when she stopped to check on the child, put her in a car and an 18-wheel truck, blindfolded her, and held her at a home where a woman fed her cheese crackers, authorities said at a news conference last week. At some point, Ms. Russell said she was put in a vehicle again but managed to escape and run through the woods to her neighborhood.
In Ms. Anthony’s statement, neither the attorney nor Ms. Russell has detailed what happened to her, or where she was during the 49 hours she was missing.
“We still don’t know what happened in those 49 hours, where she was. Did she have any help? We have no idea,” Mr. Derzis said. “We wanted the focus to be, ‘bring her home.’ She got home. We’re very excited about that.”
Doubts and Fallout
Investigators cast doubt on her story during a news conference last week, saying in the days before her disappearance, she searched for information on her cellphone about Amber Alerts, a movie about a woman’s abduction, and a one-way bus ticket from Birmingham, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee, departing the day she disappeared.
Her phone also showed she traveled about 600 yards while telling a 911 operator she was following a 3- or 4-year-old child in a diaper on the side of the highway.
“I do think it’s highly unusual the day that someone gets kidnapped that seven or eight hours before that they’re searching the internet, Googling the movie ‘Taken’ about an abduction,” Mr. Derzis said. “I find that very, very strange.”
When Mr. Derzis was asked what her motive could be for fabricating the story, Mr. Derzis said, “I think only Carlee knows, and maybe now her attorney.”
“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,” Mr. Derzis said.
“Numerous law enforcement agencies, both local and federal, began working tirelessly not only to bring Carlee home to her family but locate a kidnapper that we know now never existed. Many private citizens volunteered their time and energy into looking for a potential kidnapping victim that we know now was never in any danger,” he continued.
“This story opened wounds for families whose loved ones really were victims of kidnappings—some of which even helped organized searches in hopes they could find Carlee alive so her family would not experience the pain and suffering that they felt when their loved ones did not return home,” the police chief added.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
