RSSRunaway Bride; Charge Her With a Criminal Offense
Jennifer Wilbanks , the now famous runaway bride to be of Duluth, GA who has stated she left because of cold feet and the pressure of the wedding should be charged. There are many women who have been in the same situation but they did not create a missing persons man hunt that cost the tax payers of GA. The hoax that she perpetrated cannot go punished.
Now officials say the 32-year-old woman’s cold feet may have gotten her in hot water. On Sunday, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter vowed to look into whether she violated the law by reporting a crime that didn’t exist.
Wilbanks initially told authorities she was abducted while jogging but later disclosed she took a cross-country bus trip to Albuquerque, N.M., to avoid her lavish, 600-guest wedding.
The problem is not even what she told Albuquerque, NM police when she called 911 and stated that she had been kidnapped. The problem is that she created a deception in GA that gave the impression that she had been abducted or had met with foul play. Her INTENT was to make it appear that she had been kidnapped. She would later say to Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz, time alone,” she was “scared and concerned about her impending marriage and decided she needed some time alone”.
Distressed, out of cash and in disguise, a missing Georgia bride-to-be turned up on a seedy stretch of Route 66 and told authorities Saturday she’d been abducted, then copped to the truth she fled the pressure of her looming wedding.
Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, was picked up by police after a bus trip that took her through Las Vegas to a pay phone outside an Albuquerque 7-Eleven where she called her fiancà ©, John Mason, and 911 late Friday and said she had been freed by kidnappers.
If she had gotten cold feet and just suddenly got in a car and left to any location in America to free her mind that would have been one thing. The 32 year old bride to be seemed to have calculated her entire vanishing act in a way that can be nothing more than premeditation. She had bought her bus ticket earlier in the week under an assumed name, shed her jogging clothes that she left the house in and cut her hair. This is far from the actions of a person who did something at the spur of the moment.
Her actions could have provoked no response but for her fiancà © and parents to call the police and report her as missing. As any responsible and “reasonable” person would do if this had occurred. Thus, even though the bride did not in fact create the original false report, she had to know that her actions and no phone call stating that she was safe would have created a missing report that she knew to be false.
Jennifer Wilbanks’ actions were premeditated and the fact that she cut her hair so not to be recognized is telling. She cost tax payers money and wasted the time of countless police and FBI agents. Let alone the 100′s of concerned local citizens who took time to search for her. She needs to be charged so that people in the future do not attempt the same charade. Also, what is going to happen if one of the networks offer her a movie deal or a publisher a book deal on this deception? Should she benefit from it? Hardly. Should she go to jail? Probably not but I am sure a fair punishment can be handed down to her as well as repayment or a judgment against her.
As reported by the AP:
Last year, a Wisconsin college student who faked her own abduction and turned up curled in a fetal position in a marsh was given three years’ probation for obstructing police and was ordered to repay police at least $9,000 for their search.
That is the very least that can be done in this case as well. People cannot think it OK that they waste the time, money and energy of law enforcement on stories that are nothing more than a hoax. There are plenty of real abductions of children that could be the focus of investigations rather than the ramblings of a run-away bride.
Hat Tip: InstaPundit
Update: At the CrimProf Blog they seem to be asking the same question with “Should Hoaxes be treated as Criminal Offenses”?
The Confederate Yankee adds some local feelings of what Duluth, GA residents think about the brides antics.
Added to OTB’s Beltway Traffice Jam
McGehee seems to think that “he is the only one who suspects that her pre-planned disappearance was intended to resemble that of Laci Peterson”.
Oh This Is Priceless; Look Who Is Calling Who A Dictator
Its funny who seems to have similar opinions these days. So when I read, North Korea calls Bush ‘dictator’, all I can think of is well how different is that from what Libs say and the moon-bats over at DU?
Bush is ”a half-baked man in terms of morality and a philistine whom we can never deal with,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to the official Korean Central News Agency. The statement described Bush as the ”world’s dictator” who as president had ”turned the world into a sea of blood
So I guess what North Korea wants to see is a US President similar to Clinton whereas they can make another brilliant nuclear treaty that the North Koreans have no thought of ever abiding by?
So when the North Korean government, a dictatorship, call a democracy one; where do you think they get such propaganda material? Maybe when the Democrats & the Left make the reference to regime change. You think?
Why We Love Laura Bush
My she has come a long way from the woman who almost didn’t allow George W. Bush to run for President stating her concerns of being in the spot light and the pressures of living and raising a family in Washington, DC.
Wow, has that changed. The once shy Laura is now the queen of the ball and has become one of the most loved First Lady’s ever. Her popularity is through the roof and her appeal to Americans transcends gender and political parties.
Last night in Washington, DC at the White House correspondents dinner, Laura Bush stole the show.
Laura Bush, who is often seen smiling sweetly at her husband’s side, stood up just in time to rescue the audience of political heavyweights and Hollywood celebrities from Bush’s retelling of a joke about steel rail “cattle guards” that bombed before a Montana town meeting in March.
“Not that old joke — not again,” Laura Bush said, as her husband willingly relinquished the stage.
“I’ve been attending these dinners for years and just quietly sitting there,” the First Lady told the audience. “Well, I’ve got a few things I want to say for a change.”
Laura Bush has such a presence and calm demeanor that so many can relate to and that subtle sense of humor that is not only appealing but welcome. In today’s environment where individuals think humor is supposed to be mean and vile or has to be riddled with profanity; Laura Bush pulls it off with timing, whit and biting hilarious truth.
Laura Bush also ribbed her husband for his notoriously rowdy youth, but said they were meant to be together.
“I was a librarian that spent 12 hours a day in the library. Yet somehow I met George.”
Who doesn’t love Laura, she has become a roll model or many and has properly redefined the roll of what the First Lady should be. God bless her.
UPDATE:
I would be remiss not to mention yet more questionable reporting of a Bush event. From AP comes the following reporting:
First lady Laura Bush stole the show with a surprise comedy routine that ripped President Bush and brought an audience that included much of official Washington and a dash of Hollywood to a standing ovation at a dinner honoring award-winning journalists.
The president began a speech late Saturday at the 91st annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, but was quickly “interrupted” by his wife in an obviously planned ploy.
EARTH TO THE AP, The purpose and theme of this event is to be light-hearted and humorous. “Surprise comedy routine”? The entire evening is a comedy routine, you have covered these events before, right? You remember when Clinton was in the White House. Then in what can only be described as illogic writing and poor editing, AP writes in the very next paragraph, ” “interrupted by his wife in an obviously planned ploy”. So what was it AP, a surprise comedy routine or a planned ploy?
Get a sense of humor. Isn’t that what is one of the real issues that exist today. George W. and Laura Bush seem to have no issue having fun being made of them or making fun of themselves. There is a lot to be said for those who take things so seriously that you can’t find humor in your self.
Recent Posts: Laura Bush; As Popular As Ever
It is nice to have a First Lady who does not take herself seriously
Update: Trey Jackson video of Laura Bush.
Intermix Sued Over ‘Spyware’
New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer sued a major Internet marketer, claming they secretly installed software that delivered nuisance pop-up advertisements and can slow and crash personal computers.
A six-month investigation found that the company installed a wide range of advertising software on countless personal computers nationwide, with more than 3.7 million downloads directed at New Yorkers alone, Spitzer said.
“Spyware and adware are more than an annoyance,” Spitzer said. “These fraudulent programs foul machines, undermine productivity and in many cases frustrate consumers’ efforts to remove them from their computers. These issues can serve to be a hindrance to the growth of e-commerce.”
Christopher Lipp, senior vice president and general counsel for Intermix, denied promoting or condoning spyware, saying its toolbars and redirect applications do not collect personal information on computer users.
I am relieved I have nevered visited these sites.
According to Spitzer, Intermix owns and operates such Web sites as mycoolscreen.com, cursorzone.com and flowgo.com, which advertised screensavers, games and other software available for download. Though those programs are free, they often carry other software for delivering ads and can interfere with normal computer use, he said.
One of the company’s ad-delivery programs, “KeenValue,” delivered pop-up ads while another program, “IncrediFind,” redirected Web addresses to Intermix’s own search engine, Spitzer said.
The ad software sometimes comes without notice, or if a user was asked permission, it was often through a vague reference in a lengthy licensing agreement that could be misleading or inaccurate, investigators said.
The programs sometimes omitted “un-install” applications and couldn’t be removed by most computers’ add/remove function, Spitzer said.
Spitzer’s civil suit accuses Intermix of violating state General Business Law provisions against false advertising and deceptive business practices. He also accuses them of trespass under New York common law.
Tomahawk; There May Still Be Hope For You
This past week over at the 1754 Blog, Tomahawk was a bit dismayed over the news that Katie Holmes was now dating Tom Cruise.
Why? Who does he think he is? If he gets her into Scientology (aka “the moonbats”) I am gonna spit. There is just something wrong with that couple…as the Irish would say, “basically..something f$ckin wrong with it….”
If its any consolation I do not know what she is thinking either. I am not even sure if hanging with him these days is good for her career.
Look here, good news may be on the horizon. Looks like no one is taking the relationship seriously.
CNN’s Bill Hemmer said on “American Morning”: “What kind of sham is this, by the way?”
Snark, on CNN? But it raises the question: What if they concocted a publicity stunt and nobody bought it?
CBS’s “Early Show” also treated the news like a joke, running an interview with Kermit the Frog about whether he had ever dated Holmes, which sounded about as plausible as Cruise doing so.
London’s Daily Mail wrote, “When it comes to the timing of his romances, Tom Cruise just seems to get luckier and luckier …
I suddenly find myself with a new found respect for CNN’s Bill Hemmer. Anyway, we all know that its true love, look at the pictures there’s such great body language, such chemistry. Tomahawk, Don’t give up the ship.
Mrs. Red says that if Katie would date Tom Cruise then she is not good enough for you.
