Carlee Russell was charged with faking her own kidnapping after turning herself in to authorities. The authorities have charged her with two counts of filing a false report.
She now faces a maximum sentence of two years in prison and fines of $12,000. She posted a $2,000 bond today and was let out of jail.
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On July 13, Russell, 25, was on her way home from work in Hoover, Alabama, when she contacted 911 and reported seeing a toddler standing by the side of the road wearing just a diaper.
She then shouted on the phone as she called her brother’s girlfriend, claiming to have seen the same thing. After going missing for two days, she reappeared at her parents’ house with a cut lip and a false story about being kidnapped by an orange-haired man who held her hostage for two days until she managed to escape.
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The spa therapist’s incriminating Google search history was later made public by Hoover Police, showing searches for the terms “do you have to pay for an Amber alert” and “research on the movie Taken.”
Russell remained silent before confessing via her lawyer that she had made up the entire story. Nick Derzis, the chief of police in Hoover, has charged her with a crime as of today.
When she set up the hoax, there were speculations that she was attempting to reclaim the interest of her ex-boyfriend from whom she had recently broken up.
When she went missing, her boyfriend desperately begged for information, and when her narrative started to fall apart, he rapidly distanced himself from her.
There are now doubts as to whether she will be required to pay back the $100,000 spent on the search for her. Russell’s parents have yet to react on her arrest, and she hasn’t given her side of the story as to why she lied.
