Crime & Safety

Abduction Story Ends Up a Phony

Police Chief: Woman faces falsification charges after admitting the story was her creation.

The South Main Street abduction is a hoax, according to North Canton Police.

The woman who into a van Monday night on South Main Street has admitted making up the story. Laura M. Daugherty voluntarily appeared at the police department this morning to formally confess.

She was arrested, summoned, then released, police said. She faces a first-degree misdemeanor for falsification. She is scheduled to appear in Canton Municipal Court at 9 a.m. on May 10.

Originally, Daugherty said two men, one masked, accosted her as she left a restaurant. After driving off with the woman, she said she was able to escape and return to her North Main Street residence. Though she received treatment from the North Canton Fire Department, EMS and was transported to Aultman Hospital for evaluation, the story simply didn't add up.

"After a continuous and thorough investigation by the responding officers, paramedics, and the detective bureau, inconsistencies were discovered regarding her reporting of the facts," police said in a statement. "This was due, in part, to an emotional instability in her life."

Chief Stephan B. Wilder said the department deals with very few falsified reports, and chalked the situation up to Daugherty's individual state.


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