SUMTER, S.C.—A sheriff’s office in South Carolina say a Sumter teen faked his own kidnapping and led his mother to believe he’d be killed if she didn’t pay $130.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office tells news outlets that 19-year-old Emmanuel Franklin was arrested on Jan. 27, and charged with blackmail. Deputies say Franklin led his mother to believe he had been abducted this month and would be killed unless $130 was placed in a neighborhood mailbox. An incident report says the mailbox belonged to Franklin’s father.
Nineteen-year-old Emmanuel Franklin allegedly faked his own kidnapping in a plot to bilk his mom out of $130 in ransom money.
由 Fox News 发布于 2019年1月30日周三
Franklin’s mother told deputies she received a call from Franklin and an unknown man from a private number and the unknown man demanded the cash or Franklin would be hurt. Deputies say Franklin later told authorities he made up the story to get money from his mother.
Deputies: 19-year-old faked his own kidnapping to get $130 from his mother https://t.co/bo2BGel5Xo pic.twitter.com/UnBhNeznpA
— WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore (@wbaltv11) January 29, 2019
Kidnapping
The number of reported missing children significantly decreased in recent years, according to a report by the Department of Justice (pdf) in 2017. Reported missing children dropped from 6.5 per 1,000 children in 1999 to 3.1 per 1,000 in 2013.
Missing children typically fall into five categories: kidnapped by a family member, abducted by a nonfamily perpetrator, runaways, those who got lost, stranded, or injured, or those who went missing due to benign reasons, such as misunderstandings, according to the report researchers.
Department of Justice researchers said in a separate report (pdf) published in 2016 that there were an estimated 105 children nationwide that were victims of stereotypical kidnappings, a number that was virtually the same as 1997.
“Most kidnappings involved the use of force or threats, and about three in five victims were sexually assaulted, abused, or exploited, the researchers said.
Stereotypical kidnappings are defined as abductions in which a slight acquaintance or stranger moves a child at least 20 feet or holds the child at least 1 hour. Most victims were girls aged 12 to 17 and most perpetrators were men aged 18 to 35.
Parental Kidnapping
According to the Polly Klaas Foundation, approximately 200,000 children are kidnapped each year by a family member.
Many children (over 200,000 each year) are kidnapped by a member of their own family. The reasons for this can range…
Child custody experts say that people kidnap their own children to force a reconciliation or continued interaction with the other, left-behind parent; to spite or punish the other parent; from fear of losing custody or visitation rights.
In rare cases, the kidnapping may occur to protect a child from a parent who is believed to be abusing the child.
Common warnings signs include the other parent threatening abduction, suspected abuse, or paranoid delusion.
Sheriff: 6 Middle School Students in School Violence Threat
LAUREL HILL, N.C.—Authorities in North Carolina have accused six children ages 12 and 13 of discussing a ‘Columbine-style attack’ on their middle school on social media.
WRAL in Raleigh reports the Scotland County Sheriff’s Office said the students, who were removed from the school, face felony charges of communicating a threat of mass violence on school property. Capt. Jessica Sadovnikov says the discussion was such that investigators considered it serious.
The sheriff’s office says two Carver Middle School students alerted staff members that they thought the students would carry out the threat on Jan. 25.
Parents criticized law enforcement and school officials at a meeting Tuesday for not being told about the threat sooner. The sheriff’s office said Wednesday that at no time did it tell school leaders not to release information.
The Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips contributed to this report.
