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CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A woman who told the police that an Egyptian had tried to kidnap her daughter from a West Virginia shopping center had been jailed on Friday after the charge was revealed, an inspector said. the police.
Barboursville police detective, Greg Lucas, said Santana Renee Adams had been charged with falsely reporting an emergency incident, an offense punishable by six months in jail and a $ 500 fine. .
Adams, 24, turned around 14 hours. and was jailed after an investigating judge fixed bail at $ 20,000, Lucas said. She was calm and quiet as she was reserving and ignoring questions from a crowd of reporters waiting at the courthouse, he said. Lucas said that she did not have a lawyer yet.
The corollary to the charge was the sensational story that a mother had used a gun to thwart a reckless abduction attempt that quickly collapsed amidst inconsistencies.
Adams had first told the police that a man had seized his 5-year-old daughter by the hair in a clothing store on Monday and had tried to snatch her but had stopped when Adams had pulled out a gun, the authorities said. A criminal complaint went into detail, describing a scary scene in which a Middle Eastern man dragged the girl by the hair as she dropped to the floor.
But the story began to collapse when no witnesses could be found and the video surveillance of the mall does not match the woman's original statement. After further questioning, the authorities said that Adams had begun to change accounts.
She then told the investigators that she may have overreacted and misinterpreted the man's intentions. The police said that he may have simply stroked the girl.
"There are a lot of things that do not align," Lucas said.
On Thursday, the authorities announced that they were abandoning the lawsuit against the man, Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan, a 54-year-old engineer from Alexandria, Egypt, who was working in the area. He cried greeting the family members as he was released from prison.
"Unfortunately, while false accusations are increasingly prevalent in today's social media-based society, we are losing our understanding of" presumed innocent until proven otherwise "and Mr. Zayan was tried in the world by the court of public opinion, "Zayan said. Attorney defender Michelle Protzman said in a statement Thursday to the Associated Press.
Back at the police station after Adams' imprisonment, Lucas had a moment's thought.
"The week has been long and sleepless," he said.
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