PORT ST. LUCIE, FL — Police Chief Donald Shinnamon has decided not to make the parents of two boys who made a bogus report of a girl being abducted Wednesday morning pay the costs of the massive effort to find the non-existent girl.
Tom Nichols, the Port St. Lucie Police Department public information officer, confirmed the decision but declined to explain Shinnamon’s reasoning.
“We’re just saying we’re not going after the parents to recoup the expenses and leaving it at that,” Nichols said.
Nor is the department going to calculate how much money was spent on the wild-goose chase. “To do that,” Nichols said, “would just cost more money.”
Dozens of law enforcement officers scrambled Wednesday morning and worked several hours to look for the reportedly missing girl. In addition to officers from the Port St. Lucie, they included about 20 deputies, detectives and a helicopter crew from the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office; about 15 Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies and three detectives; 20 Fort Pierce Police Department officers; 15 canine units from throughout the southeastern United States who happened to be training in Stuart; and officers from the Stuart Police Department.
The two boys, whose names were not released but were said to be 8 to 10 years old, told police they saw two Hispanic men grab a girl and put her in their van about 7:30 a.m. Wednesday as the vehicle passed the bus stop at Southeast Pinero and Midtown roads near Port St. Lucie Boulevard in central Port St. Lucie.
The boys later admitted they made up the story, basing it on a television show they had seen.
Each boy received a misdemeanor notice for filing a false police report and were released to their parents.
