A North Carolina woman was arrested this week for attempting to fake her own death, according to the Franklin Police Department.
Margaret Frances “Maggie” Elizabeth Sweeney’s actions “caused our department, as well as other departments, many hours of work which could have been spent on other matters,” said authorities.
Sweeney, 37, was first reported missing last Friday. Information provided to police indicated she was endangered or deceased. She was located in a town nearby Franklin the following day.
Sgt. Randy Dula, continued to investigate the case. He determined it was Sweeney who “allegedly made anonymous third-party false reports to a friend, and the Department of Social Services that she had been murdered,” said police.
She was arrested Monday and charged with causing a false report to a police station, false report of death or serious injury by telephone communication and obstruction of law enforcement officers. In addition to stressing law enforcement resources, police noted that the community, as well as Sweeney’s family friends, were concerned about her during the initial police search.
This case is not the first case of a false police report filed this summer. Last month, the story of 25-year-old Carlee Russell in Hoover, Ala., went viral. She called 911 and claimed to see a toddler on the side of the road before apparently disappearing and showing up back at her house days later.
Hoover police announced July 28 that Russell had been charged with false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident.
“Ms. Russell turned herself in to the Hoover City Jail on these charges earlier today and has since been released on bond,” said the Hoover Police Department. “The charges are both Class A misdemeanors under Alabama law.”
Late last month, an 11-year-old girl from Port Orange, Fla., was also arrested after falsely reporting an abduction she said was by a YouTube challenge.
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