Advertisement

Runaway bride indicted on two counts

DULUTH, Ga., May 25 (UPI) -- A Gwinnett County, Ga., grand jury has indicted the "runaway bride" on felony and misdemeanor charges of making false statements.

District Attorney Danny Porter announced Wednesday Jennifer Wilbanks has been indicted on a felony charge of lying about her disappearance, and a misdemeanor charge of making a false report of a crime, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.

Advertisement

If convicted on the felony charge, Wilbanks would face a prison sentence of one to five years, and another 12 months if she is convicted on the misdemeanor charge.

Wilbanks disappeared from the Duluth home she shared with her fiance April 26. She called her home four days later and claimed to have been abducted by a Hispanic man and a white woman in a blue van.

However, she recanted the report during an Albuquerque, N.M., FBI interrogation.

Lydia Sartain, Wilbanks' attorney, said she is "confident Jennifer Wilbanks has not committed a crime in Gwinnett County."

"The citizens of the county will be ill-served by an attempted prosecution," Sartain said.

Latest Headlines