As Alabama authorities discuss how to assess expenses incurred by law enforcement after Carlee Russell alarmed millions of people with a fake kidnapping claim, they are also considering how to penalize her.
Meanwhile, in other states, young people are already copycatting her crime, sparking a conversation about if these cases will impact what some activists are characterizing as the tragic epidemic of Black women being abducted or trafficked.
The Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office is considering “possible criminal charges related to” Russell’s case.
The 25-year-old told her family and a 911 dispatcher that she was kidnapped on July 13 on the highway after getting out of her car to check on a toddler.
In a statement made public via her attorney, she said there “was no kidnapping,” and she acted alone in creating the fake story about her 49-hour disappearance.
Police are seeking to charge Russell with false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident, misdemeanor charges that carry a maximum punishment of one year in jail.
Incidentally, an 11-year-old Florida girl was arrested for texting authorities that her friend was kidnapped by an armed man in a white van, the Washington Times reports.
She told the officers she was following the suspect in a blue Jeep, giving them moment-by-moment location updates regarding this imaginary chase.
“Multiple deputies responded, along with Edgewater, New Smyrna Beach and Port Orange police and Air One, to search for the suspect vehicle, but no van was found,” a representative from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office charged the preteen on July 26 with a felony of making a false police report concerning the use of a firearm in a violent manner and a misdemeanor of misuse of 911.
While Russell and the middle school prankster were not telling the truth, activists say there are thousands of Black people who go…
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