"Kidnapping Hoax Reported To 9-1-1"
A 38-year-old mother of three, locked in the trunk of a car with her nine-year-old daughter, calls 9-1-1 on her cell phone. Philadelphia police catch the call and an interstate drama begins.
A Bucks County prosecutor in suburban Philadelphia says the woman called 9-1-1 and claimed she’d been rear-ended and when she got out of her car to check for damage, she and her daughter were forcibly kidnapped by two men and stuffed into the trunk of another car.
Claiming she was calling from inside the trunk of the kidnap car, the woman says, "I’m scared to death and have no idea where they’re taking us."
The prosecutor says the woman also used her cell phone to call her husband and give him the same story that she gave the cops. Hours later police find the woman’s car parked in downtown Philadelphia with no damage.
A task force of police from seven agencies manage to track the woman’s cell phone location to a motel at Disney World in Central Florida.
The local branch of the FBI, Orange County sheriff’s deputies, and Disney World Security find the woman in her motel room with her daughter -- both unharmed. The woman is arrested and the daughter turned over to her biological father.
From the time the woman first reported the phony kidnapping until she is arrested in Florida some 18 hours pass. Seven law enforcement agencies are involved in the investigation.
Investigators say the woman flew to Orlando using a borrowed driver’s license. Authorities are concerned about the failure of two TSA officers at airport security to spot the I.D. belonging to someone else.
The woman was returned to Bucks County and is now released on payment of ten percent of the one million dollars bail set by the local court.
The woman is expected to be arraigned for making a false report and identity theft -- both misdemeanor crimes. Other charges are pending, according to authorities.
The reason for the bizarre escapade is still not known or has not been reported by authorities.
Copyright-Bob Ford 2009
|