CRIME
Alabama Woman Avoids Jail After Pleading Guilty To Kidnapping Hoax
Hoover Police Department
An Alabama nursing student who faked her own kidnapping last year, prompting a nationwide search, will avoid jail time after pleading guilty to criminal charges on Thursday.
Carlee Russell pleaded guilty to filing a false police report and falsely reporting an incident to law enforcement, both misdemeanors, at the Jefferson County Courthouse in Bessemer on Thursday. Judge David Carpenter suspended two six-month jail sentences, saying it would be a waste of government resources to put you in jail.
Instead, Russell was sentenced to supervised probation for 12 months, and ordered to pay nearly $18,000 in restitution to the city of Hoover. She will also be required to complete 100 hours of community service.
Russell seemed to vanish on July 13, 2023, after calling 911 to report seeing a lost child alongside Interstate 459 in Hoover. Her car was found abandoned on the side of the highway, prompting national headlines and an extensive search.
Two days later, she arrived back home on her own, claiming she had been kidnapped and escaped. Russel told police a man and woman took her to a house and took nude photos of her.
But police were unable to verify her claims, and instead found her phone’s internet search history included searches about the movie Taken, which involves an abduction, along with searches for if you have to pay for an Amber alert and for a one-way ticket from Birmingham to Nashville, Tenn.
On July 24, Russell admitted she had lied about seeing the child and about being kidnapped.
TMX contributed to this article.
