Carlethia "Carlee" Russell, 25, of Alabama, has officially been arrested, just days after confessing to Hoover Police Department that she faked her own kidnapping. Her alleged kidnapping led to a frantic two-day search before she returned home on her own just 49 hours after she was believed to have gone missing. Russell had originally made a call to 911 from the interstate, claiming that she had seen a toddler walking alone along the highway. Minutes after making the call, she seemed to have vanished.
No one heard from Russell between the Thursday night she went missing and the Saturday night she returned home, unharmed.
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Russell now faces misdemeanor charges.
According to WCTV, Russell has been charged with "misdemeanor false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident." Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis confirmed the charges during a news conference early Friday afternoon.
Russell reportedly surrendered to police.
Russell, who originally told police that she had been kidnapped and thrown into an 18-wheeler truck by a man with "orange hair" after making the 911 call about the toddler, surrendered herself to authorities at the Hoover City Jail on Friday, NBC News reports.
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Derzis spoke to the trouble Russell caused the local community.
Although previously authorities had been slow to publicly pass judgment on the situation, during the most recent press conference, the police chief touched on the numerous issues Russell's hoax has caused the community.
"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," he said. "The story opened wounds for families whose loved ones really were victims of kidnappings, some of which even helped organize searches.”
She could face jail time.
According to NBC News, each of the charges against Russell carry a bond of $1,000, which has been posted, allowing Russell to return home. She could face up to a year in jail and a $6,000 fine if convicted, Derzis said.
The circumstances surrounding Russell's disappearance were suspicious from the start.
After video footage from the interstate showing the moment Russell pulled her car over surfaced online, many people were suspicious about the 911 call reporting the toddler sighting, as no child could be seen in the video, and no other drivers on the road seemed alarmed.
Then, when Russell returned home, those suspicions grew day-by-day. Her story didn't add up to many, and eventually additional video footage showcased some odd behavior on Russell's part and the US Secret Service ended up discovering searches related to Amber Alerts, the movie Taken, and bus tickets. All of which seemed to indicate that Russell had planned her own disappearance.
Still, police were reportedly unable to secure a second interview with her as of Monday, but continued to investigate the possibility that Russell had committed a crime. Today's charges will hopefully bring some closure for the Hoover community.
