(RightWing.org) – The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) received more than five million calls regarding missing children since Congress established the non-profit group in 1984. In 2023, the CNMEC assisted law enforcement agencies, child welfare officials, and families with 28,886 cases. Sadly, some people take advantage of the priorities placed on these distressing incidents by making false abduction calls to the police.
On July 1, the El Paso Police Department (EPPD) issued a press release announcing the arrest of Stacie Dashay Marie Smith for making a false report of a criminal offense, a violation of the Texas Penal Code Section 42.06 – False Alarm or Report. The notice explained that an unnamed friend of the 19-year-old suspect called the EPPD to report a vehicle theft at about 12:30 p.m., local time, the previous day.
Smith allegedly placed a second call to the EPPD advising that her child was missing. She said she believed that the person who stole her friend’s car had taken her child.
Officers responding to the calls met with the reporting party and Smith. After an extensive search, the EPPD found the vehicle but didn’t find the missing child.
EPPD officials assigned detectives from the department’s Crimes Against Persons (CAP) division to the case. Their subsequent investigation revealed that the child did not exist. CAP detectives also determined that Smith had provided the “fictitious name of a child” in hopes it would prompt EPPD officials to expedite their search for her friend’s missing car.
Law enforcement officials arrested Smith and charged her under Section 42.06. A violation of that law is a misdemeanor unless the false report involves an educational institution, public transportation facility, or any other public works service.
The latest information from the EPPD indicated that jailers are holding Smith on a $5,000 cash bond. If convicted, she faces a maximum of one year in jail and up to a $4,000 fine.
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