Mother Pleads Guilty to Faking an Amber Alert

A Columbus mother has pled guilty to a misdemeanor falsification charge after faking an Amber Alert so police would find her stolen car faster.

Jessica Pickett, 22, had left her car on for it to warm near Chittenden Ave on January 30th before it vanished in theft. She called dispatchers to report the stolen car but added that her 4-year-old daughter was inside.

The entire central Ohio area was then sent the Amber Alerts to their cellphones via the emergency alert system. This resulted in a city wide search using every resource the Columbus Police had — things got especially frantic as Pickett’s car was found, a suspect was arrested but there was no sign of her 4-year-old daughter.

It wasn’t until a single call shed light on the lie, The caller explains to the dispatcher, “I am trying to call in about that Amber Alert. She is not missing. She is at her Aunt’s house.”

There is no date for Pickett’s sentencing.

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