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.
12-13 words there. Wonder what each one cost Wilbanks.
All around.
Could it be that the only reason it was hyped so heavily is that we don't currently have a missing bride story to dominate on the Fox News Network?
Damn it - it was the fault of her religious wacko husband because he wouldn't pork her. Doesn't the District Attorney know that women have sexual needs and nothing is ever their fault?
Blame the husband, please.
We have a grand jury process, and I believe in it.
Huh? She commits a crime in New Mexico and gets charged in Georgia? How does that work?
Since Bernalillo county is in another state, I don't see how Gwinnett county has the authority to prosecute her.
I think going after Wilbanks via this route is just an attempt to assuage the angry mob, but it will just be wasting taxpayer's money.
Nope, that would be the hormones.
What makes him a religious wacko? I don't know that much about the dude.
Your can't blame her husband. They were never married.
Uh, they weren't married at the time, but your sarcasm is appreciated.
The bonfire of the vanities continues...
As for the cost, the search was initiated hours after she bolted (and left her engagement ring behind). The only reason the duluth police jumped on this was because her future father in law was the former major of Duluth and a current municipal judge. Had she been a "Jane Smith" living in a doublewide, there would have been no search. Furthermore, the search was called of at least a day before she called the police in NM. She is in no way responsible for money spent searching for her.
As for the charge of "lying to the police", she didn't call the authorities in Georgia. They were on the line when she called her family. If Porter is going to charge her with lying to authorities, then he needs to charge every person who is stopped for a traffic violation for lying if they insist they were not speeding. He will have to charge every single person who is found guilty of any crime with the additional crime of lying to the authorities if they plead innocent in order to force the state to prove guilt (which is their right). Can anyone see the complete idiocy of this charge?
Yeah, let the taxpayers eat the cost. Let the bug-eyed twit get married in a bathrobe, at city hall.
You know that if this had been the groom pulling this stunt, he would have been put under the jail and required to pay back the costs.
I must say I agree. The male always gets the shaft no matter what.
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