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Jennings woman accused of staging her own kidnapping

Posted at 1:05 PM, Dec 18, 2018
and last updated 2018-12-18 14:05:12-05

Alexandria Police have arrested a Jennings woman and accused her of staging her own kidnapping.

Rebecca Champion was booked with criminal mischief – filing a false police report.

Courtesy Alexandria Police

The investigation began on December 10, when APD was called by the Evangeline Parish Sheriff’s Office. Deputies asked the APD to check on Champion, who had been reported missing and might be at an Alexandria home.

Deputies said she might have been kidnapped by her boyfriend and forced to go with him after he threatened her husband.

Officers arrived and contacted Champion, who gave a similar account of events, saying that her boyfriend forced her to get in his truck under threat of harm to her husband.

Police continued to investigate, and after reviewing the messages in Champion’s phone, they saw things in a different light, a spokesman said.  Champion had messages in her phone in which she texted a friend saying she was going to “set up [her] stalker” in order to get him to leave her alone. When presented with this evidence, Champion allegedly admitted she made up the kidnapping to set up her boyfriend to get revenge on him, the spokesman said.

The investigation also revealed evidence that Champion’s husband was complicit in the staged kidnapping, however no charges will be forthcoming from APD as his alleged actions took place outside of Rapides Parish, the spokesman said.