Posted on 05/25/2005 9:43:54 AM PDT by Jenya
Runaway Bride Indicted for Making Up Story
Woman Claimed Abduction After Disappearing Days Before Wedding
By DANIEL YEE, AP
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (May 25) - Runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks was indicted Wednesday for allegedly filing a false police report claiming she had been kidnapped, charges that could mean up to six years in prison.
A grand jury indicted the 32-year-old woman on one count of making a false police report, a misdemeanor, and one count of false statement, a felony. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison, said Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter. The other count carries a penalty of up to a year.
''We believe this is a reasonable next step in the case. We believe the grand jury made the right decision,'' Porter said.
''At some point you just can't lie to the police,'' he said.
Wilbanks, 32, disappeared from her Duluth home on April 26 after claiming that she was going for a jog.
While Georgia authorities looked for her, the woman traveled to Las Vegas by bus and then to Albuquerque, N.M. There, she called authorities with a story about having been abducted and sexually assaulted.
But under questioning, she recanted and said she fled Georgia because of unspecified personal issues. She returned to Georgia on April 30, the day she was to have been married in a lavish ceremony with 600 guests.
Porter has said Wilbanks could face a misdemeanor charge of filing a false report or a felony charge of making false statements for telling authorities she had been kidnapped. Wilbanks' lawyer has said she doesn't think her client should be charged with a crime.
Her disappearance prompted a massive search and nationwide publicity. City, county and state officials spent about $50,000 looking for her.
Several state and county agencies already said they will not ask her to reimburse them for a total of $10,000 spent in additional search costs. But the city of Duluth still is seeking repayment of about $40,000 and Mayor Shirley Lassetter said her city attorney has been in negotiations with Wilbanks' attorney, Lydia Sartain.
Sartain has said she does not think Wilbanks committed a crime in Gwinnett County. Authorities in Albuquerque have already said they will not charge Wilbanks.
''The citizens of the county will be ill-served by an attempted prosecution,'' Sartain said.
Sartain did not immediately return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment on Wednesday.
..if I told someone at DU that they were a moron and in response, they commited suicide..
Gotta tread real carefully, they're thoooo thenthitive over there !
Lock her up and full restitution.
Is that dense fiance' of hers still saying he's fixing to marry the misfit?
What do you think of him?
That sockless goober will probably ask the judge to marry them both after she's had her day in court. He's a stupe.
Sockless goober.... OMG! Hilarious.
Ever since I saw his appearance on H&C, I've called him a sockless goober because he's one of these preppy goobers that goes around with brown dress shoes and no socks on... Talk about tactless. YUK! LOL!
And that hairdo (hairstyle) of his is pure goober. Still laughing about you calling him a sockless goober.
This friend of mine is personable...really nice...laughs alot...has a weird sense of humor but it's funny. It's all good. :)
What is truly criminal is that Wilbanks put these two innocent people at great risk by accusing them of kidnapping and raping her.
We as a country wouldn't be so worried about disappearing women and children if sociopaths and psychopaths knew that they would be dragged out behind the local court and immediately executed after a short and sweet trial.
Massive searchs such as this are a direct result of the breakdown of the criminal courts, and the failure of our government to address violent criminals in a manner which would get their attention.
You are correct.
I would suggest that sociopaths and psychopaths are not intimidated or dissuaded by the threat of capital punishment.
I would submit that such persons are EMBOLDENED by the knowledge that they don't face capital punishment. "Sociopaths are interested only in their personal needs and desires, without concern for the effects of their behavior on others." "Psychopath - (technical) someone with a personality disorder characterized by extreme callousness, who is liable to behave antisocially or violently in getting their own way, without any feelings of remorse."
I would also submit that swift execution of such persons puts a real crimp in the personal needs and desires of a sociopath, and that death kind of prevents a psychopath from getting his or her own way. Anybody, anybody? Mr. Bundy.
Ah yes, Mr. Bundy.
Do you recall what he did when Ted escaped from prison? He did not even attempt to flee the country. He immediately went out and killed again, although he knew(being an attorney) he faced the death penalty, before authorities tracked him down. The possibility did not deter or embolden him. Ted Bundy just continued his murderous behavior.
IMHO sociopaths and psychopaths are so deranged (Charles Manson comes to mind) that the threat of execution for criminal behavior doesn't affect their conduct. And yes, Manson surely deserved the death penalty.
Your descriptions of "sociopaths", and, "psychopaths", though true, fails to fully illustrate their criminal behavior. I would suggest that any time they are able to manipulate and control anyone, they are "EMBOLDENED".
Obviously, executing a killer puts a "crimp" in their personal needs, being that they are dead, if I understand you correctly. But as I had said in my previous post; just and capital punishment does not deter those who are truely evil.
You're wrong. Get over it.
From a CNN article that ran on May 2nd:
"Belcher said he was near the fiance's home at the time of the early morning call and drove to the home to get on the line.
"He said he 'clearly identified' himself to Wilbanks as the chief of police and that she told him that when she was jogging last Tuesday, a Hispanic male and white female jumped her from behind, placed her in a van and drove off.
"'At this point, she did violate Georgia law by advising me of this situation - that she was kidnapped,' Belcher said."
Right.
"Colorado police filed charges against Bundy on October 22, 1976, for the murder of Caryn Campbell."
"The authorities in Colorado were confident they could put him on trial for the murder of Caryn Campbell, the girl who was killed in Snowmass at the height of the skiing season."
"But in December 1977 Bundy escaped again - this time by cutting a hole in the ceiling of his cell with a hacksaw blade and this time he would not be caught so easily."
As I said before, the authorities dawdled, as they usually do, and Bundy escaped to kill again, because they didn't off him immediately after a quick trial.
Furthermore, I don't think lawyer Ted had much to worry about, because he undoubtedly was aware that the last execution in Colorado was in 1967. He didn't live to see the next one in Colorado - 1997.
(Of course, I will take the opportunity to point out that the dawdling wheels of the criminal justice system are gummed up deliberately by The Deliberate Stranger's fellow lawyers. Apologies to FR lawyers in advance for even mentioning them in the same post with Bundy or the anti-death penalty legal pond scum.)
Oh, but it gets better....the judge says "I now pronounce you, sockless goober and bug-eyed dingbat....You may kiss the dingbat *POOF!*" She elopes with the crocheted blanket under her arm.
LOL!! I knew you'd like that little story that includes a happy ending. LMAO!!
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