Carlee Russell has officially been found guilty.
Months after the Alabama woman made headlines for vanishing after telling police she saw a toddler walking along the highway — only to later admit that she FAKED her own kidnapping — the court has weighed in on her charges.
If you forgot, the nursing student was charged in July with two misdemeanors: false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident, following the reveal of her hoax. At the time, she told authorities she was abducted while attempting to help the child, who she claimed was wandering along I-459. There was a whole search party for the 25-year-old, and over $60k raised to aid in the Birmingham Crime Stoppers’ efforts — but that all ended up being for nothing after she revealed, via her lawyer, that it was all made up.
Pretty weird…
Well, she’s now having to face the music.
During a municipal court hearing on Wednesday, Judge Brad Bishop found the controversial figure guilty of her charges, and ordered her to pay $831 for each, as well as an additional $17k in restitution, according to WIAT CBS 42. She’s also facing up to a year in the slammer, which in her situation could actually be considered getting off easy, as BOTH charges carried potential jail time of up to a year. Yikes!
Carlee pleaded not guilty, but that obviously didn’t go very far. However, her attorney, Emory Anthony, revealed they are going to appeal for the following reason:
“We stipulated and appealed the case and the reason behind it was that they’re trying to ask for jail time, which we totally disagree with. So, in fairness, there’s no need of having a trial here, knowing their position. So we have stipulated and appealed the case and we’ll start anew in the Bessemer circuit court.”
Thoughts, Perezcious readers?? Let us know in the comments!
[Images via WVTM 13 News/YouTube & Hoover Police Department]
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