CHARLOTTE, N.C. — In Alabama, police are consulting with the district attorney's office, looking at potential charges against Carlee Russell. She's the woman who claimed she was kidnapped on the side of the interstate while trying to help a wandering toddler.
According to her attorney, Russell now admits she was not kidnapped, and she never saw a toddler on the side of the road. This got us thinking if this kind of thing happened here in North Carolina, could there be charges? What does the law say?
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SOURCES:
"What it boils down to is a fake police report in general," Lee said.
Lee said the charge for something like this would be filing a false police report which in North Carolina is a class two misdemeanor.
"The statute gives a few different things. It can be all untrue. It can be misleading as long as it has the intent to send them on a path that they shouldn't be going on. It's a false report," Lee said.
According to the law, the maximum punishment is 60 days in jail, but Lee tells WCNC these cases are uncommon because they can be tough to prove.
"It's a pretty hard case to prove without someone coming out and saying this was a lie," Lee said.
According to data from the North Carolina Judicial Branch, in a one-year period ending in 2022, prosecutors statewide opened just fourteen criminal cases of filing a false police report depending on the facts of each case. Lee said more charges could also be filed in addition.
Contact Meghan Bragg at mbragg@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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