A San Jose mother who told police that a stranger tried to abduct her young daughter - which turned out to be a lie - is now facing a misdemeanor charge of falsely reporting a crime.
Jennifer Araujo turned herself in to police on Monday and posted bail immediately, according to San Jose police, which was first reported by the Mercury News,.
Araujo caused quite a stir on Jan. 15, when she told police that a man tried to take her child from her home on the 200 block of Dayo Court in East San Jose. She gave a very complete description of the man, including the fact that he was unshaven, wore a red cap and smelled like car oil.
"I was playing with my daughters and he was commenting about how beautiful they were and the color of their hair and one thing lead to another and when he knelt down he grabbed my daughter by her feet-by her ankles, and we were tugging at each other" the woman previously told NBC Bay Area. She did not put her face on camera, but spoke through her door.
Then, after questioning, investigators said they found inconsistencies in her story. She later confessed that the kidnap was a hoax.
Police never detailed what those inconsistencies were or why she made up the story in the first place.
The whole ordeal frustrated police, who spent many resources, tracking down a child who was never kidnapped.
"It's frustrating for the police department to say the least," Albert Morales, a San Jose Police Department spokesperson, said at the time. "In light of our current state of the department with the lack of resources, it was taxing on all of us from the beat officer who was out there responding to the initial investigation to the investigators who went out there."
