From AP via The Santa Fe New Mexican:
ALBUQUERQUE — Georgia’s runaway bride arrived in this desert city on a Greyhound bus with nothing but the clothes on her back.
She left on a first-class airplane seat, carrying souvenirs and sporting a new wardrobe. The airfare was thanks to her family. The clothing and souvenirs were courtesy of the police and FBI agents she befriended.
Moved by the plight of Jennifer Wilbanks, authorities from several law enforcement agencies went beyond the call of duty — giving her a teddy bear, an FBI cap and polo shirt, a tote bag, meals and even a shoulder to cry on — to make her daylong stay here comfortable.
How can you expect anything else out of APD? Judging from Trish Ahrenfeld’s statement, APD didn’t let the lying woman fill out a police report which turned out to be pretty convenient. Had the runaway bride signed her name on the report, she could have been charged with a felony. Instead, she only faced the misdemeanor crime of making a fake 911 call. It is important to note that APD has no jurisdiction in Georgia and vice versa so, her lying to the police here amounts to nothing.
Considering there is now a reported $200,000.00 (According to Joe Monahan)missing from their Evidence Unit, it is not surprising that justice is being meted out capriciously by a police department that answers to no one. Well, Albuquerque’s citizenry deserves the kind of police department they are willing to settle for.
Welcome to America where everyone is created equal. Some people just happen to be more equal than others.
For heavens sake why the big hulabaloo….She is not the first girl to get cold feet. The cops in Albuquerque did exactly the right thing.
Dear Dad,
Don’t you remember the story about the the boy who cried ‘wolf?’ What happened to personal responisibility? This woman is not a teenager. She is 32 years old so, she is clearly at an age where she is responsible for her actions.
Here are the facts; She bought her bus ticket 5 days in advance. She cut her hair to disguise herself. She called a taxi to drive her to Atlanta (about 50 miles from Duluth). Her fiance was targeted as her murder suspect by the GBI. She falsely identified someone (a Hispanic male and a caucasian female) of abducting and raping her at gunpoint. She tied up the 911 time, reserved for addressing real emergencies, as she fabricated her tale. She cost the city of Albuquerque and the federal Government overtime costs for detectives and Public Information Officer Trish Ahrensfeld whom I am certain were not scheduled for regular duty at 2:00 am the day she called 911. Who is going to pay for that? And finally, according to the Duluth Sherriff and GBI Agent, she expressed no remorse over the trouble she had caused when they interviewed her earlier today.
While I share your compassion for people that make mistakes, I do not agree that APD did the ‘right’ thing. By ignoring the fact she misled them and lied about her abduction and forced rape, APD has opened up a can of worms because every attorney representing any person charged in the future of abusing 911 or lying to the police has a precedent setting case to refer to for appeal for the Court to dismiss the charges.
You seem to be willing to forgive this woman’s transgression and totally ignore the fact that our city’s finest were compelled to use money from an already strained budget to conduct a criminal investigation that ended up being a wild goose chase. I think buying this woman a teddy bear and rolling out the red carpet for her was the wrong message to send.
Before you start to thinking that I am being callous, just think about this; our police force is tasked with a heavy undertaking that scrutinized for integrity and trust. APD is currently embroiled in the worst police corruption scandal in Albuquerque’s history. The department has decied not to pursue pressing criminal charges against people who have embezzled money and quite possibly even stolen or destroyed evidence from their Evidence Unit. This recent Public Relations ploy doesn’t detract from the reality that APD has serious problems. I cannot see how coddling a 32 year old woman from a prominent family in Georgia really helps APD’s public image of being on the straight and narrow.
I have spent my life serving the citizens of this city and state. I just recently finished my career in law enforcement and it troubles me that the law is meted out by fiat.
When John Adams wrote, We ‘are a country of laws, not men,” he meant that no person is above the law. APD had no right to bend the law the way it did. It is not up to their discretion to prosecute or not. That decision falls squarely on the Distirct Attorney. I am appalled that people are willing to look the other way when this woman most definitely committed at least one crime. It is okay to love the sinner and still hate the sin. She should have been charged by APD and the decision regarding guilt or innocence along with whatever punishment deemed appropriate should have been left up to a judge. Thats the way our rule of law is supposed to work.
Bravo, AbqAvgJoe. This woman didn’t just get your typical cold feet. She put her family through hell, her fiance through a lie detector test, and her hometown through an exhaustive (and expensive) manhunt. It is not cute and she should not be treated like a wayward child – she should bear some consequences for what she did.