University drop-out who faked own kidnapping faces $10,000 search bill

A YOUNG woman who faked her own kidnapping could be sued for the cost of the extensive search.

The attorney for the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale will decide whether to file a civil claim against Nancy Salas for overtime, helicopter fuel and other costs, police said yesterday. Salas claimed she had been kidnapped at knifepoint but later confessed she had made up the story to avoid telling her parents she had dropped out of college

However, prosecution officials may decide it is not cost effective to try to seek repayment of more than $10,000.

Salas, 22, told friends and family that she was about to graduate from the University of California, Los Angeles, with a degree in sociology to prepare for a career in public health, but detectives discovered that she hadn't been enrolled since September 2008.

Salas stuck to her story about being kidnapped until she returned to Glendale and police told her that the game was up. Her parents – everyone – knew the truth, they said.

"But up until that point she had no idea the extent of the search that was going on, nor did she have any idea that our investigators had unravelled the faade that she kept up for two years," a police spokesman said.

Salas told police she used her baby-sitting job in Westwood as cover, hung out on campus and complained about mid-terms on her blog, never letting on that she ran into academic and financial problems at school.

Police said Salas told detectives that she dropped out after her scholarship money ran out and her grades weren't good enough to earn another one.

Salas's father was recently laid off from his job at a trucking company and her mother cleans houses for a living.

Parents Henry and Joanna Salas were "crushed" when detectives told them their prized daughter wasn't studying at UCLA.

Her friends from the university and Chevy Chase Baptist Church, who plastered the neighbourhood with flyers, insisted that there was some clerical error and refused to believe police.

The police spokesman said the department was getting e-mails complaining that they had spent taxpayer money on an unnecessary search.

"It's the cry wolf thing. People are worried that resources were diverted," he said.

When Salas returned home, there were at least 40 people jammed into her family's tiny living room waiting to hear from her. She confessed, thanked them for supporting her family and promised to be honest in the future. "You all see how many people are here. It's absurd that I couldn't have the courage to talk with you," she said as her face crumpled into tears.

Her friends lingered outside the family's apartment, trying to sort out their feelings about a friend they had cared for. They refused to talk to reporters and said the family needed time to adjust to the facts.