Carlee Russell 'hoax' fallout: Ala. lawmaker wants to make faking an abduction a felony

An Alabama lawmaker plans to introduce legislation that would make faking an abduction a felony, after Carlee Russell, the Alabama woman who went missing in July after she reported seeing a toddler walking along the interstate, was charged with two misdemeanors for lying about her own kidnapping.

“This fictitious kidnapping caused fear and shock not only throughout the legislative district I represent but also throughout our state and nation,” Alabama state Sen. April Weaver, a Republican, said in a statement Monday, calling Russell’s actions a “hoax.”

“Individuals who concoct and carry out sham kidnappings and lead our law enforcement officers on wild goose chases must be given severe penalties for their deceptive actions,” she said.

Weaver said she plans to prefile the bill ahead of the 2024 regular session, which is scheduled to reconvene in February of next year. The bill, she says, will include substantial prison sentences and mandatory restitution requirements for the full cost of resources expended by law enforcement agencies during a hoax abduction.

Weaver did not respond to Yahoo News’ request for comment.

Russell’s punishment

On Friday, less than a week after admitting she was never kidnapped, Russell was charged with filing a false police report and filing a false statement, both of which are misdemeanors. At a press conference that day, Hoover, Ala., police said Russell had turned herself in and had been released on $2,000 bond — $1,000 for each offense. Each charge faces a maximum of one year in prison.

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall has stated that if Russell is convicted, he will seek to recover the investigative costs expended during her disappearance.

“It is no doubt that part of the role that we have in this case is not only to develop the facts to present before the prosecution, but also to develop an argument relating to restitution,” Marshall told Fox News.

Two other lawmakers, state Reps. Juandalynn Givan, a Democrat, and Republican Leigh Hulsey, have also said they are working on legislation to enhance penalties for lying about an abduction, according to a WBRC report. They also plan to prefile the legislation this month, however the duo stopped short of saying what the proposed legislation would entail.

“You had a huge amount of resources uitalized that are taxpayer resources across multiple agencies searching for someone who was never in danger. And that is a problem,” Hulsey said. “That took resources away from investigations and helping solving crimes that are real crimes that are ongoing right now, and we need to do whatever we can to prevent that from happening in the future.”

Experts say the new law could backfire

Eric Guster, a former criminal defense lawyer and civil litigator based in Birmingham, Ala., believes the rush to impose stiffer penalties on future false reports like Russell’s is overzealous.

“They have to be careful about these knee-jerk reactions because this kind of thing only happens every five to 10 years,” he told Yahoo News. “I don't think it's very smart.”

Russell Gold, an associate professor of law at the University of Alabama, says he’s not surprised that legislators are calling for stricter criminal charges, but he fears the impact of its implementation.

“It’s the most classic story of the political economy of criminal law: Politicians feeling the need to respond to a high-profile instance and typically making bad law as a result being overly punitive, overly reactive,” Gold told Yahoo News, adding that these tactics give prosecutors additional power.

“The more and more stuff that gets criminalized, the more the legislature has basically kicked the can down the road and just let prosecutors make the important decisions about what to charge,” he said.

Guster also questioned the notion that imposing stiffer penalties will prevent others from falsifying abductions in the future.

“People steal and know it’s a felony. People shoot and know it’s a felony,” he said. “So making it a felony doesn’t necessarily stop people from doing it. When people commit crimes, they rarely think of the penalties of what that crime entails.”