Business woman from California staged her abduction to not pay employees
'08.09.2018'
Source: ABC News
A resident of California fabricated a whole scheme of alleged abductions, rape and robbery, to avoid paying 9 thousands of dollars to her employees.
Authorities in the city of Fresno, California, are about to arrest 32-year-old Maria Gonzalez, the owner of the trucking business. She was discovered at her home on Saturday, partially related to a mouth gag and head injury. The woman told the police that she was kidnapped, held at gunpoint, robbed - taking the money she was going to pay employees, and, possibly, raped, writes ABC News.
But two days later, after a thorough investigation and 2,5 hours of police interrogation, Gonzalez admitted that the whole scene was a hoax.
“The reality is, she didn't have $ 9 to pay the employees, and that's why she fabricated this whole story,” Fresno Police Chief Jerry Dyer said at a press conference on Monday.
According to him, Gonzalez went so far that she wrapped her hands behind her back with a telephone cord and faked injuries. At first, at the hospital, she said that she had stopped the car on the road because of two dogs running across the track when two black masked men burst into the car. One of them was allegedly armed with a pistol, tied her hands, put a gag in her mouth and told her to go wherever they said. According to Gonzalez, she passed out, but later regained consciousness to make sure the money was safe. At that moment, she allegedly discovered traces of blows to the head and “moisture in her underwear,” which could serve as evidence of violence.
“This not only created an unrealistic amount of work and forced the detectives to be pulled out of other cases they had to work on, but also aroused great fear in the people living in the surrounding area.”
As the Fresno detectives advanced in their interrogation, they began to find inconsistencies. For example, the robbers took only a specific amount of Gonzalez's money, leaving the rest of the bills in his wallet. Traces of only one person were found next to her car. Police said Gonzalez's memory seemed unstable - she could explain in detail how she got out of the back of the car and untie herself, but many other details eluded her.
Finally, when the police showed her the videotape made with a review of the entire territory where the alleged abduction took place, Gonzalez admitted that she had done everything possible to avoid paying her staff. The ABC television station in Fresno tried to contact González, but she refused to leave her home. Her grandfather said that she was injured and he was not aware of the situation.
Gonzalez was released from custody on Sunday evening, but the police are working to obtain an arrest warrant.
“It is important that people, when filing false statements to the police, especially of this magnitude, understand that they are responsible for this,” Dyer said.
