'Runaway bride' charged with making false statement
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/05/25/wilbanks/index.html
LAWRENCEVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- Jennifer Wilbanks, the Georgia woman who fled the state and faked her own kidnapping and sexual assault before her wedding, was indicted Wednesday by a grand jury, the Gwinnett County district attorney said.
Wilbanks, 32, is charged with one count of making false statements, a felony punishable by five years in prison, and one count of making a false report of a crime, a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail, District Attorney Danny Porter said.
"We believe that the grand jury made the appropriate decision," he said at a news conference.
The medical assistant from the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, had been scheduled to marry in April at a lavishly planned wedding including 600 guests and 28 attendants. Just days before the ceremony, she disappeared, prompting a massive, three-day search that local authorities said cost thousands of dollars.
"At this point, the next step in the process would be the issuance of the bench warrant for her arrest," Porter said. "I feel confident that arrangements can be made for her to turn herself in, and then we will take the next step from there."
Eventually Wilbanks called authorities from a pay phone in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and said two people had abducted her, then recanted her story during questioning by the FBI and police.
Albuquerque police have said they will not file charges.
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Originally Posted by kilpatty43
