Most of the money was expended before the bride telephoned the police in Georgia and conveyed her kidnapping story. I suspect if authorities asked her parents to repay them, they would readily agree, and could do so using either the $100,000. reward money or the money they were going to spend on the wedding, (which probably far exeeded that). In addition, consider that it was only one hour that the police were misinformed:
A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Albuquerque said ....she had told them the truth within about an hour.
So no one went looking for kidnappers. More important, however, is that she didn't call the police in Georgia to report a crime. She called her family from the Albuquerque police department to tell them she was okay. The police chief just happened to be there and they put him on the phone. He asked if she was okay. That she lied about how she got to be okay is not falsely reporting a crime.
Ditch that one, now we're on to making a false statement to police. By all accounts, she did that. But, is it a crime? Only if she did it both knowingly and willfully. Willfully essentially means intentionally.
Her state of mind is key here. The Albuquerque authorities and FBI report she was pretty discombobulated by the time she called 911 and arrived at the police station. That was when she called home to say she was okay and they put the Chief on the phone. Given that she didn't call the police and didn't know in advance she'd be speaking with one of them, I think it's a stretch to say her false statement to was willful or intentional.
Here's the The Georgia law (O.C.G.A. § 16-10-20):
A person who knowingly and willfully falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; makes a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or makes or uses any false writing or document, knowing the same to contain any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of state government or of the government of any county, city, or other political subdivision of this state shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by a fine of not more than $1,000.00 or by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years, or both. [emphasis supplied]
The bride had the right to travel and to leave without telling anyone. Even the DA acknowledges that. The question isn't jail, no one, even the DA, wants to see her in jail. So even if they could put together a case of her making a false statement (which she rectified within an hour), why bother? Why use the already overburdened resources of the Georgia criminal justice system to place her on probation or under supervision and in treatment? Let the private matter end with a private settlement. Let the family reimburse the city and county and let's all be done with it.
Why won't it happen that way? Because television viewers got duped. The real anger is not that people were worried about the bride. Those people are all thrilled she's home. The angry people are those who watched on tv all weekend and felt cheated when it turned out there was neither a gruesome crime nor a botched crime with a happy ending.
Sorry, but the public being duped by the media who made a 24/7 story out of the case is no reason to charge someone with a crime.
