State Senator April Weaver announced plans at a press conference on Thursday to introduce a bill that will raise the penalties on falsely reporting a crime and/or transmitting a false report alleging imminent danger to a person or the public.
If passed, the two offenses will change from Class A misdemeanors to Class C felonies.
Weaver (R-Briarfield) said the legislation is needed after a Hoover woman, Carlee Russell, faked her own disappearance this past year, leading to a widespread search that incurred great expense to taxpayers and hundreds of hours of law enforcement officers’ valuable time.
“Just like so many others, I was outraged when it was discovered that the entire incident was an elaborately staged hoax. It was thousands of taxpayer dollars, and hundreds of human resources hours within our local, state and federal law enforcement community,” said Weaver.
RELATED: Officials push for increased penalties after Carlee Russell hoax
“Perhaps the biggest victims of Russell’s hoax was the dozens of volunteers who selflessly donated their time in record breaking heat to search for her. My outrage was compounded when she was charged with only local misdemeanor violations because no adequate state felony to cede her actions was on the books.”
According to Weaver, those convicted could spend anywhere from a year and a day, to 10 years in jail.
“I think it’s so important because it is so important to the public. The public was absolutely outraged by this event,” she said. “Not only is law enforcement interested, the public in general is interested.”
“We really believe this is something that will move fast this legislative session.”
RELATED: Police: Carlee Russell searched ‘Taken,’ bus ticket before disappearance
Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis, whose department led the search for Russell, has worked with Weaver to create the new legislation. He revealed the amount of time and effort Hoover Police put into finding Russell.
“Our department worked over 424 hours of overtime, 30% of our workforce was devoted at some point to this event,” said Derzis. “Our entire investigative bureau caused other investigations to be delayed, because everyone that worked in investigations, worked on this particular case.”
The bill would also require someone to pay restitution if their false report results in emergency response.
State Rep. Mike Shaw (R-Hoover) will carry the House version of the bill increasing penalties on false police reports. The 2024 legislative session begins on Tuesday.
Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.
