By Gary Lloyd
JEFFERSON COUNTY — A woman who was allegedly kidnapped from Jefferson State Community College on Tuesday has admitted she made up the story.
According to the Birmingham Police Department, on Tuesday Gabriell Coleman notified family members from her cell phone that she had been kidnapped by two unknown white males. Coleman stated she was abducted from the Jefferson State Community College. She was found a short time later.
On Wednesday, Coleman confessed that she was not kidnapped but made the story up. Coleman said she left school with a friend and they went to a house where alcoholic beverages were being served. Coleman said she never drank and that there were no males present at the location.
She told the lie in order to spend time with her friends, according to a Birmingham Police Department release. It was also revealed that Coleman made a similar claim of kidnapping while she was in high school. That was also a lie, BPD said in the release. A misdemeanor warrant was been issued against Coleman for filing a false police report. She was arrested Thursday.
“It is very imperative that our citizens understand that accusations of this magnitude will not be tolerated and those responsible will be held accountable,” the BPD release states. “Filing a false report is a crime and false police reports can be damaging both for police efforts as well as any person who might be the victim of the false report. The amount of resources and manpower that is required to conduct this type investigation cost the city thousands of dollars. However, this incident will not deter nor hinder the Birmingham Police Department from thoroughly investigating future reported crimes.”
Contact Gary Lloyd at news@trussvilletribune.com and follow him on Twitter @GaryALloyd.