Carlee Russell, the 26-year-old Alabama woman accused of faking her own kidnapping, has been found guilty. Russell, who pleaded not guilty after facing charges of false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident, appeared in court on Wednesday and heard the verdict, AL.com reported. Municipal Judge Brad Bishop recommended a year in jail for Russell and $17,874 in restitution, as well as two fines of $831 each.
Russell’s attorneys Emory Anthony and Richard Jaffe said they are appealing the ruling.
”If you can find where someone was put in jail for that, bring the file to me and I’ll look at it. Generally, they’re not put in jail,” Anthony told reporters. “We have stipulated and appealed the case and it will start anew in the Bessemer Circuit Court.”
Anthony also said the priority right now is to take care of Russell’s well-being.
“I don’t want her to have a break down. So, we’re handling her with kid gloves and making sure her mental state is just fine,” he said. “We’re dealing with issues with Carlee, and we want the best for Carlee. We realize a mistake was made but we don’t want to just pile on right now.”
While he disagreed with jail time, Anthony said the restitution is fair. The attorney also said he doesn’t know if his client will face more charges.
Russell became a national story when she disappeared on July 13. The Alabama woman stopped her car on the highway on that night, then called her family and 911, saying she saw an abandoned child on the side of the road. When police arrived at the scene, Russell was already gone. Officers also said they didn’t find an abandoned child. A massive search effort followed as Russell’s story spread quickly and people wondered what could have happened to her.
The 26-year-old showed up at her family’s house on her own two days later. Russell then told police that she escaped from a man and a woman who kidnapped her. Investigators, however, became more suspicious as Russell’s story didn’t add up. In a statement she later released through her lawyer, the young woman admitted that she made up the story.
“Numerous law enforcement agencies, both local and federal, began working tirelessly not only to bring Carlee home to her family, but locate a kidnapper that we now know never existed,’’ Hoover Police Department Chief Nicholas Derzis said at that time according to AL. “Many private citizens volunteered their time and energy into looking for a potential kidnapping victim that we now know was never in any danger.”
