Jess Battison
A woman has been charged after allegedly trying to trick the cops into thinking she’d been murdered.
From Franklin, North Carolina, it’s said she also even tried to trick her friends and family.
Margaret Frances ‘Maggie’ Elizabeth Sweeney was first reported missing on Friday (18 August). As reported by New York Post, one of the 37-year-old’s friends told the Franklin Police Department she was either going to be killed or already dead.
And therefore, officers began an immediate investigation.
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However, she was actually found safe the next day in a neighbouring town.
Sgt. Randy Dula found out that Sweeney had allegedly gone out of her way to make an anonymous third-party tip about her death to her own friend as well as the Department of Social Services.
"Sweeney’s actions caused our department, as well as other departments, many hours of work which could have been spent on other matters,” the department said.
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“Family, friends, and the community as a whole were also very concerned and worried about Sweeney’s welfare.”
It’s not clear why exactly the woman allegedly tried to fake both her disappearance and death.
The New York Post also report that she ‘lashed out’ at the police for posting an update on her case to Facebook.
She apparently wrote in the comments: “Social media has us believing we’re entitled to know about people/situations that have nothing to do with us.
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“In place of support, we ridicule those that do not answer questions that make them uncomfortable. I decide when/what/with whom I confide in. No one for a long time.”
Sweeney has been charged with filing a false report to a police station, false report of death or serious injury by telephone and obstruction of law enforcement officers.
Just last month, Carlee Russell from Alabama admitted to lying about going missing herself.
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The 25-year-old went missing on 13 July after putting in a call to 911 and telling operators she’d seen a toddler walking by the Interstate 459.
She originally claimed a man had come out of the nearby woods to check on the toddler, before picking Russell up and making her go over a fence.
The woman claimed she’d been forced inside a car, blindfolded and forced to undress.
However, later after returning home she admitted to fabricated the whole thing.
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In an email to the Hoover Police Department, Russell's attorney Emery Anthony said: "My client did not have any help in this incident. This was a single act done by herself.
"My client was not with anyone or any hotel with anyone from the time she was missing. My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well and to her friends and family."