Carlee Russell found guilty of two misdemeanors over hoax

Source: Hoover Police Department / Hoover PD

The Carlee Russell saga looks like it’s coming to an end.

According to ABC3340, a judge in Hoover, Alabama has ruled on the criminal charges against the 26-year-old in regard to her viral kidnapping hoax that captured the attention of every social media platform and the legacy media at large. Russell has been found guilty of two misdemeanor crimes, false reporting to law enforcement authorities and falsely reporting an incident. The judge recommended that she pay $18,000 in restitution and spend six months in jail per charge for a total of one year.

You can imagine how happy a certain segment of Americans are about this ruling…

It appears that the suggestion that Carlee spend time in jail comes as a surprise to lawyers like local counselor Edward Merrell who said this prior to the judge’s ruling:

“I think the expectation from the public would be that she has some sort of jail time associated with it. Realistically based on what her past most likely is like, I would imagine there probably won’t be any actual jail time,” said Merrell.

It is reported that Carlee and her attorneys plan to appeal the decision. At this point, there is no word on when she will be officially sentenced. We will have more information as ie becomes available.