Carlee Russell charged in Alabama abduction hoax

The Alabama woman who confessed to faking her own abduction, prompting a massive two-day search, has been charged in connection with the headline-grabbing hoax, officials announced Friday.

Carlee Russell, a 26-year-old nursing student, has been hit with misdemeanor charges for false reporting to law enforcement and falsely reporting an incident after she “disappeared” earlier this month.

She was surrendered to authorities at Hoover City Jail Firday and was released on $2,000 bail. The charges carry a maximum sentence of one year in jail.

Russell had phoned police on July 13 to say was stopping by the side of the road to rescue a baby she could see crawling along the side of Interstate 459 in Hoover.

She then re-emerged two days later, with surveillance footage showing her walking alone on the sidewalk toward her family’s house.

She spoke to police who were baffled by her story of being abducted and it quickly fell apart.

Russell’s attorney, Emory Anthony, revealed Monday his client had fabricated the story about seeing the baby and spun a web of lies about being kidnapped by a balding white man who took pictures of her naked before she was able to escape.  

“There was no kidnapping,” Emory said in a prepared statement on Russell’s behalf, which was read during a Monday press conference. “My client did not leave the Hoover area when she was identified as a missing person.”

“My client apologizes for her actions to this community,” Anthony’s statement went on.

Russell’s disappearance prompted gained national attention amid fears she had been kidnapped.

Crime Stoppers of Metro Alabama reportedly raised over $63,000 in reward money toward the effort.

When she returned home, her family called 911 and police arrived to find her “conscious and speaking,” despite dispatch reports that she was “unresponsive but breathing.”

Russell was taken to a hospital with a busted lip and other apparent injuries. She agreed to a single interview with police, but had not cooperated with their requests for a second interview, officials said Thursday.

“She stated when she got out of her vehicle to check on the child, a man came out of the trees and mumbled that he was checking on the baby,” said Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis, in recounting her statement to police. “She claimed that the man then picked her up and she screamed.”

“He then forced her into a car. The next thing she remembers is being in the trailer of an 18-wheeler,” Derzis said.

Russell allegedly told police that the man was white and was with a woman, whom she never saw, and that she also heard a child.

“She told detectives the male had orange hair with a big bald spot on the back.”

Derzis further described how Russell made several odd internet searches, including “How to take money from a register without being caught,” the Liam Neeson kidnap revenge thriller “Taken” and about costs related to Amber Alerts.

Investigators have said they have found no evidence or 911 calls reflecting a toddler walking along the highway alone. 

Russell was fired from her job at a local spa after police revealed she stole a robe and toilet paper before disappearing. She also allegedly stopped at a local Target store for snacks that were not found in her car after she disappeared.

Her parents and boyfriend were adamant about the alleged conditions Russell had endured before she returned home.

“There were moments when she physically had to fight for her life, and there were moments when she had to mentally fight for her life,” Russell’s mother, Talitha Robinson-Russell, told NBC News’ Priscilla Thompson.

Her boyfriend, Thomar Latrell Simmons, wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post: “She was literally fighting for her life for 48 hours, so until she’s physically & mentally stable again she is not able to give any updates or whereabouts on her kidnapper at this very moment.”

He later told The Post he wanted “everyone to stop bullying her. I know what it seems like what she did. Just stop bullying on social media.”

“Think about her mental health. She doesn’t deserve that,” he told The Post exclusively. “She doesn’t. Nobody deserves to be cyberbullied.”

After the news of her confession, he said he was “blindsided” and “disgusted.”