A 30-year-old from North Carolina who allegedly faked a violent murder using a cell phone app will have to explain herself in court after causing the police team responsible for her case to lose 75 hours.
“Sweeney’s actions have caused our department, as well as other departments, to put in long hours of work that could have been spent on other cases,” the Franklin Police Department said on Facebook Monday, sharing a list of charges against the woman.
On Friday, Margaret Frances Elizabeth Sweeney, known as “Maggie,” allegedly sent anonymous text messages through an app to hide her identity to a friend as well as to the North Carolina Department of Social Services, describing her death as violent, according to NBC. News on Wednesday.
In the text messages, the 37-year-old woman alleged she was beaten to death with an iron tire, US media reported, based on the arrest warrant.
Except Maggie Sweeney would have been found safe and sound the next day at the park, according to the police team, who would have been able to trace the text messages to her.
In all, the various police teams spent 75 hours searching for him, and then the investigation that followed.
She was charged with making a false statement to the police station, reporting a false report of death or serious injury by telephone, as well as obstructing law enforcement officers, and the law included the police force.
However, the motives of the accused were not determined.
This story comes just weeks after Carly Russell, a 25-year-old woman from Alabama, admitted to setting up her own kidnapping.
NBC News reported that the woman was eventually charged with misrepresenting information to law enforcement and misrepresenting an incident, and could face up to a year in prison.
