PA - Chloe Elizabeth Stein, 23, charged with faking own abduction, Hempfield Twp, 1 May 2023

[PromotedPawn]

I’m probably being too charitable, as I tend to be, but I don’t really see the “hoax” here.

She lied to her boyfriend (not a crime), lied to her family (not a crime), went incommunicado for less than 24 hours (not a crime). She lied to police under questioning when she probably should have said nothing, which I guess is a crime, but it just seems like a young person who did something stupid that got blown out of proportion.

Sure, it’s annoying and wasteful, but I truly hope it can be resolved without causing her more harm than she’s already done to herself.

I came here to say this. If any charge is going stick, charge with lying during the investigation. Other than that, she did nothing wrong. She told her boyfriend she was getting pulled over... Maybe just to rush him off the phone? It's not her fault everyone overreacted. Plenty of women go missing under similar circumstances and it's brushed off as gang or drug related. MOO.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

This case should definitely be taken seriously and should not be downplayed.

Her lying was very serious in this case, because she specifically lied about being pulled over. And, then later her car was found abandoned & she couldn't be found. So, a reasonable person could easily believe that something had happened to her during a traffic stop & it was being covered up. These types of things have happened in the past.

Again, this was fraud. Her lying resulted in the authorities & her family searching for her. And, the definite thought here was that something terrible had happened to her.

She was not a drifter/transient with no family/friends who was just choosing to cut off contact with the world - with no one really caring either way about this.

Also - the time/money/resources spent in searching for this not-missing person took time/money/resources away from legitimate missing persons cases. Also, this type of fraud/lying has & will unfortunately result in the authorities taking legitimate cases like this a lot less seriously - and this is obviously already an issue.

 

[Nfagundes14]

I came here to say this. If any charge is going stick, charge with lying during the investigation. Other than that, she did nothing wrong. She told her boyfriend she was getting pulled over... Maybe just to rush him off the phone? It's not her fault everyone overreacted. Plenty of women go missing under similar circumstances and it's brushed off as gang or drug related. MOO.

I agree. not to be that person either, but a feeling in my belly says if this was a WOC etc police would say you need to wait 24 hours before reporting them missing......

 

[Nfagundes14]

I would assume the "hoax" terminology comes into play because she essentially staged a kidnapping with an imposter cop and wasted a lot of LE resources/incited community panic, fearing for her life, etc.
I do have empathy for her though. I think she needs serious help and I don't think she's a complete monster by any means. However, she really, really screwed up here.

There is definitely legal repercussions to lying to cops, and I imagine there is no way there wouldn't be repercussions for what she did overall even besides that. But I hope the main priority is helping her find resources that can help her get it together, so to speak. Maybe in a year she can actually graduate college if she gets the help she needs if that is the path she wants to take.

I'm not sure simply telling your BF you got pulled over is staging a kidnapping though.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

This case should definitely be taken seriously and should not be downplayed.

Her lying was very serious in this case, because she specifically lied about being pulled over. And, then later her car was found abandoned & she couldn't be found. So, a reasonable person could easily believe that something had happened to her during a traffic stop & it was being covered up. These types of things have happened in the past.

Again, this was fraud. Her lying resulted in the authorities & her family searching for her. And, the definite thought here was that something terrible had happened to her.

She was not a drifter/transient with no family/friends who was just choosing to cut off contact with the world - with no one really caring either way about this.

Also - the time/money/resources spent in searching for this not-missing person took time/money/resources away from legitimate missing persons cases. Also, this type of fraud/lying has & will unfortunately result in the authorities taking legitimate cases like this a lot less seriously - and this is obviously already an issue.

I came here to say this.

Not exactly - this is much more concise and much less inflammatory than what I would say. Thanks for saying what needed to be said @Sonny Crockett. IMO too.

 

[modesty blaise]

Girl what In the world!

 

[elevatorific]

This case should definitely be taken seriously and should not be downplayed.

Her lying was very serious in this case, because she specifically lied about being pulled over. And, then later her car was found abandoned & she couldn't be found. So, a reasonable person could easily believe that something had happened to her during a traffic stop & it was being covered up. These types of things have happened in the past.

Again, this was fraud. Her lying resulted in the authorities & her family searching for her. And, the definite thought here was that something terrible had happened to her.

She was not a drifter/transient with no family/friends who was just choosing to cut off contact with the world - with no one really caring either way about this.

Also - the time/money/resources spent in searching for this not-missing person took time/money/resources away from legitimate missing persons cases. Also, this type of fraud/lying has & will unfortunately result in the authorities taking legitimate cases like this a lot less seriously - and this is obviously already an issue.

She only lied to authorities after she was "found"... at that time she hadn't committed a crime and she likely felt cornered. Lying to your family/friends and going off the grid for a day isn't fraud. And the law doesn't differentiate between doing all that while having family that (perhaps?) loves you or not. Doesn't matter whether she was a drifter or a cheer captain. It's perfectly legal.

Now they want to spend more resources charging her just to make an example of her? Over-charging her, in fact, with charges that as others have stated won't stick. IMO.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

I stand by everything I said in my previous posts:

She lied to her bf & said she was being pulled over, and then she vanished (temporarily), abandoning her car. As a result, her bf ended up going to the authorities & they had to spend time/resources seeing if she had been pulled over. Then, when they confirmed there was no record of this - they spent additional time/resources/money searching for her. The abandoned car just solidified the strong belief that she was in distress/kidnapped (maybe by someone pretending to be an authority figure/figures) - or worse. I suspect she knew that her family/friends wouldn't just let it go & would search for her. And, she should have fully realized that her family/friends would get the authorities involved too - especially given that she lied about being pulled over by said authorities.

If a drifter/transient without friends/family vanishes & doesn't tell anyone what they are doing and/or where they are - that's the end of it. No one is searching for them. Maybe they will be found later - and maybe they won't.

Conversely, this woman lied to her bf & disappeared - which led him to believe that she was in distress - or worse.

Again, the more fraudsters/liars do things like this the less seriously authorities will take actual & legitimate missing persons cases. And, many/most of these are already under-investigated; I suspect that those of us who frequent this board are fully aware of this.

Don't downplay/excuse what happened here. This entitled liar & what she did plays a large part in why people don't take the majority of missing persons cases seriously.

 

[Sonny Crockett]

Glad I'm amusing you! Keep on laughing! However, note that human trafficking is a real thing & does occur. Watch the news sometime - you'll see these are real issues.

Those that don't take crimes seriously are much of the reason that many criminals go free with a slap on the wrist. But, this is not at all surprising. This is pathetic, typical, and extremely predictable.

 

[mickey2942]

I will be interested in what transpires here, because Jussie Smollett, convicted of filing a false police report, and sentenced to 6 months in jail and a year of probation, has served less than 3 days in jail, due to the appeal process.

If we make a comparison, I think that she won't see much of a sentence.

 

[AzPistonsGirl]

Personal responsibility. Where has it gone?

 

[airportwoman]

I think reimbursement and community service would be an appropriate sentence in this case, and also mandated counseling.

 

[whiterhino]

Considering the reason why she took off, if this girl had simply shut her phone off and driven away somewhere after work one day, people would have been much more understanding. Then she would have been legitimately missing.

However telling her bf she was being pulled over, ditching her car and hiding out while ignoring pleas for her safe return IMO makes her a piece of poo.

What makes her so special? Throw the book at her.

 

[Springrain]

Personal responsibility. Where has it gone?

This is it for me, too. I do have a lot of empathy for her. I think she deserves and needs help. But it's time for her to own up to her "stuff" and accept responsibility for her actions. This was a big mistake and it's time to own up to it. JMO.

 

[Springrain]

Considering the reason why she took off, if this girl had simply shut her phone off and driven away somewhere after work one day, people would have been much more understanding. Then she would have been legitimately missing.

However telling her bf she was being pulled over, ditching her car and hiding out while ignoring pleas for her safe return IMO makes her a piece of poo.

(RSBM) Exactly. If she genuinely panicked and became what by all accounts is a "real" missing person, that would be one thing. But she chose to lie to her boyfriend, incite panic, willingly hide, and cause a scene with wasting LE and community resources. I wouldn't call her a "piece of poo", but she really messed up. IMO.

 

[LordMo]

This is it for me, too. I do have a lot of empathy for her. I think she deserves and needs help. But it's time for her to own up to her "stuff" and accept responsibility for her actions. This was a big mistake and it's time to own up to it. JMO.

right. I feel really sorry for her because I messed up so bad in college I could almost see myself feeling the same way. But, unfortunately, you can't run from consequences forever.

 

[HmmMysterious]

This reminded me of Nancy Salas. She was a former UCLA student who also staged her kidnapping to avoid telling her friends/family that she dropped out. Salas lied to them saying that she was going to graduate with a degree in sociology in June of 2010. However, records showed that she stopped attending UCLA in September of 2008.

 

[elevatorific]

This reminded me of Nancy Salas. She was a former UCLA student who also staged her kidnapping to avoid telling her friends/family that she dropped out. Salas lied to them saying that she was going to graduate with a degree in sociology in June of 2010. However, records showed that she stopped attending UCLA in September of 2008.

It is similar, but a key difference being that Nancy Salas actually did file a false police report - she called 911 herself - which warranted the misdemeanor charge to which she pled no contest. She got probation and community service, which seems appropriate.

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

I’m probably being too charitable, as I tend to be, but I don’t really see the “hoax” here.

She lied to her boyfriend (not a crime), lied to her family (not a crime), went incommunicado for less than 24 hours (not a crime). She lied to police under questioning when she probably should have said nothing, which I guess is a crime, but it just seems like a young person who did something stupid that got blown out of proportion.

Sure, it’s annoying and wasteful, but I truly hope it can be resolved without causing her more harm than she’s already done to herself.

I'm conflicted on this one. On the one hand, I agree with the above. People have the right to disappear and she didn't dictate what happened when she did disappear. It isn't like she called 911 to report herself missing. But on the other hand, if she wanted to disappear, she didn't have to make it a suspicious disappearance by telling her boyfriend a cop pulled her over and abandoning her car. That seems like a deliberate attempt to stage a crime scene, which I should come with legal consequences, IMO.

I feel for this young woman. Her lies caught up to her and I think she panicked. Had she just driven to Jeanette and hid her car out of sight, I'd disagree with any punishment for her (because, like I said, people have the right to disappear). But it's the intentional actions she took in making it look like a crime that I have a problem with.

JMO.

 

[whiterhino]

I'm conflicted on this one. On the one hand, I agree with the above. People have the right to disappear and she didn't dictate what happened when she did disappear. It isn't like she called 911 to report herself missing. But on the other hand, if she wanted to disappear, she didn't have to make it a suspicious disappearance by telling her boyfriend a cop pulled her over and abandoning her car. That seems like a deliberate attempt to stage a crime scene, which I should come with legal consequences, IMO.

I feel for this young woman. Her lies caught up to her and I think she panicked. Had she just driven to Jeanette and hid her car out of sight, I'd disagree with any punishment for her (because, like I said, people have the right to disappear). But it's the intentional actions she took in making it look like a crime that I have a problem with.

JMO.

BBM: This. It's the leaving her car behind. Super creepy IMO.

For me it's the fact that she made herself into a false victim because she dropped out of school (I assume)

I keep thinking "Gone Girl". I can empathize with someone failing and doing everything to avoid the truth but she took it too far.