FRANKLIN, NORTH CAROLINA: A “missing” woman who made “anonymous third-party false reports” to a friend and to the Department of Social Services that she was killed, is now slapped with criminal charges for the hoax, North Carolina authorities say.
According to Fox News, Margaret Frances “Maggie” Elizabeth Sweeney, 37, was considered a missing person late last week.
The Franklin Police Department made an alert with photos of Sweeney, detailing her age, hair color, eye color, height, and police department contact info. However, the case lasted just one day.
Maggie Sweeney was located the following day
“Sweeney was reported missing on Friday, August 18, at which time FPD Officers began an immediate investigation due to the information provided which eluded [sic] that Sweeney was endangered or deceased,” police said in an update.
“Sweeney was located safe on the next day on Saturday, August 19.”
Authorities said they were quick to realize that the reports of Sweeney’s endangerment or death were made by her.
First Sgt Randy Dula of the Franklin Police Department was “able to determine that Sweeney allegedly made anonymous third-party false reports to a friend, and the Department of Social Services that she had been murdered,” police said.
What charges does Maggie Sweeney face now?
Authorities said that Sweeney is facing three charges due to the waste of police time, energy, and resources, and given the alarm Sweeney’s case caused in the community.
The charges include false reporting to a police station, using a phone to falsely report a death or serious injury, and obstructing police.
“Any person who shall willfully make or cause to be made to a law enforcement agency or officer any false, deliberately misleading or unfounded report, for the purpose of interfering with the operation of a law enforcement agency, or to hinder or obstruct any law enforcement officer in the performance of his duty, shall be guilty of a Class 2 misdemeanor,” the North Carolina false reporting statute says.
Similar incidents reported in the past
Carlee Russell made national headlines in July this year after it seemed initially that she was abducted after stopping her car to check on a child wandering along I-459 in Alabama.
However, Russell was hit with misdemeanor false reporting charges after investigators claimed to discover she’d perpetrated a hoax.
In the aftermath of those charges, her defense lawyer admitted that “there was no kidnapping on July 13, 2023,” that Russell “did not see a baby on the side of the road,” and that she “made a mistake” for which she was asking forgiveness.
“This was a single act done by herself,” attorney Emory Anthony said.
Sherri Papini was sentenced to prison in September last year after pleading guilty months earlier to conjuring up a kidnapping and torture hoax which also made national headlines.
Her sensational case came to light in November 2016 when she claimed to have been abducted at gunpoint by two nonexistent Hispanic women as she jogged in California.
But, it turned out that Papini was staying with an ex-boyfriend even as her worried then-husband reported her missing and hoped for the safe return of the mother of their children.
Although her ex-boyfriend admitted to helping her “run away” to escape her husband, Papini insisted into August 2020 that she’d be kidnapped even though records showed that she was with her ex.
