Runaway Bride Charged!

The flakey bride has been charged:

The bride-to-be who skipped town just days before her lavish wedding was indicted Wednesday on charges she told police a phony story about being kidnapped and sexually assaulted.

Jennifer Wilbanks, 32, faces one felony count of making a false statement and one misdemeanor count of making a false police report. She could face up to six years in prison if convicted of both charges, as well as $11,000 in fines. She could also be ordered to reimburse authorities for the cost of the search that was prompted by her disappearance.

"We believe this is a reasonable next step in the case. We believe the grand jury made the right decision," said District Attorney Danny Porter. "At some point you just can't lie to the police."

There are quite a few points to be made here. First off, I have not understood all of the recent punditry over the question of whether or not she should be charged with anything. Why would this even be an issue? When she left and then lied about being kidnapped to the police she crossed the line of any usual wedding jitters by anyone's measure. At the very least she should be paying for the expense of the search to the local governments. No brainer in my book.

But she also crossed another line that has not been talked about much. She reported a false rape which works to undermine the credibility of true rape victims in society. For this, she should be locked up.

And don't go telling me that she is crazy; she was 'with it' enough to make up a story to try and cover her tracks.

Now we'll have several days of people crying "she has remorse, she just got the jitters and has been punished enough!" Yeah right. She's embarassed is what she is, and now she needs to be held accountable just as anyone else should be.

Update: TechCentralStation has more.