The Alabama woman who admitted faking her kidnapping, Carlee Russell, is expected to face charges in the case, according to her lawyer.
On Tuesday, Emory Anthony, Russell’s attorney, met with the Hoover Police Department and said they are working to move forward on the case, adding, “There’s responsibilities that we need to take care of,” Oxygen reported Thursday.
According to Jefferson County Chief Assistant District Attorney Lane Tolbert, law enforcement is seeking two charges against the young woman. The first charge is false reporting to law enforcement authorities, and the second is falsely reporting an incident, per Fox News.
The outlet noted the charges are classified as misdemeanors and may mean up to a year behind bars.
Russell lied about spotting a toddler walking down the side of a highway and also admitted she was never abducted, her lawyer said in a statement read aloud by Hoover Police Chief Nicholas C. Derzis on Monday, Breitbart News reported.
“My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies, as well as to her friends and family,” Derzis read at the press conference.
Police said an amount has not yet been determined for how much money was spent on resources while trying to find Russell, WHNT reported Thursday:
The young woman “went missing” after calling 911 about a toddler on the side of I-459 a few weeks ago.
Authorities deemed her a missing person for nearly 50 hours, but she did not leave Hoover.
“My client did not have any help in this incident. This was a single act done by herself. My client was not with anyone or in any hotel with anyone from the time she was missing,” Derzis continued reading.
The young woman apparently returned home on July 15 but falsely claimed she had been abducted in an 18-wheeler, and a man and woman took nude photographs of her. In addition, there was no apparent evidence of a toddler being on the roadway.
“Russell’s cell phone data shows that she searched Amber Alerts, Taken — a movie about a girl being abducted — and one-way bus tickets from Birmingham, Alabama, to Nashville, Tennessee, a day before her disappearance, according to authorities,” the Breitbart News report said.