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Kidnapping Hoax: Bronx Teen Allegedly Staged Abduction To Avoid Moving Back To Honduras With Family

Karol Sanchez, 16, reportedly told police she wanted to stay with her 23-year-old boyfriend, a Crips gang member.

UPDATE:

A Bronx teen faked her own dramatic kidnapping so that she could be with her gang-banging boyfriend, police said.

Karol Sanchez, 16, was captured on surveillance video being snatched off the street by two men as she walked alongside her mother, Carmen, 36, on Monday (Dec. 16) night around 11:20 p.m., cops said, the New York Post reports

The horrific incident sparked an Amber Alert and a citywide manhunt late Monday into Tuesday (Dec. 17), the New York Post reports.

RELATED: Amber Alert Issued For 16-Year-Old Girl Snatched Off Bronx Street By A Group Of Men In Front Of Mom

Hours later, the teen resurfaced and admitted to police the whole scary ordeal was staged. 

Sanchez allegedly confessed she wanted to be with her 23-year-old boyfriend, who cops and police sources said is a reputed Crips gang banger once arrested for murder, the New York Post reports.

During the incident Monday (Dec. 16) night, Sanchez’s mother could be seen in the surveillance video trying to fight off the two men and was eventually thrown to the ground as the car her daughter was forced into, which contained two more men, sped off down East 156th Street, according to police, the New York Post reports.

On Tuesday (Dec. 17) afternoon, sources said a mysterious phone call was placed to the family, and a man said, “We got the wrong girl,” the New York Post reports. 

Shortly after, around 2:15 p.m., the 16-year-old girl reappeared at the same intersection the alleged bogus kidnapping occurred the evening before. 

According to witnesses, she then walked over to two cops sitting in a squad car, the New York Post reports. 

According to Akash Singh, 29, who said she witnessed Sanchez’s reappearance, “She was trembling while she was walking. She just looked really scared."

"She put her hands on her knees and she started talking to the cops. They jumped out of the car and put her in.”

The teen is not expected to face charges, but she did admit she helped orchestrate her own abduction. 

Police are still looking to question the four men who were in the car. One of the men involved is believed to be her boyfriend, the New York Post reports.

One high-ranking New York Police Department source told the New York Post, “Her mother wanted to move them back to Honduras, but she [Karol] was adamantly against it.” 

During the teen’s confession to police, she described her mother as “overprotective,” the New York Times reports.  

She was released back to her family shortly after and was visibly upset, as seen in video from ABC News.

PREVIOUS:

Earlier today (December 17), news broke that a 16-year-old girl from the Bronx was kidnapped right in front of her mother.

The incident blew up on social media and stole many of Tuesday’s top headlines. Now, the NYPD 40th Precinct reports that the girl, Karol Sanchez, has been found and is being returned to her family. Video later surfaced of Sanchez walking alongside law enforcement.

Minutes ago, news broke that Sanchez staged the whole incident. According to CBS2, the teen confessed that the whole thing was a hoax after being reunited with her family.

RELATED: Amber Alert Issued For 16-Year-Old Girl Snatched Off Bronx Street By A Group Of Men In Front Of Mom

No charges have been filed at this time, but police are looking for four male accomplices.

The surveillance video, which was released early Tuesday, shows four men snatching the teen off of a Bronx street.

CBS2 reports that Sanchez staged the incident because she experienced “family issues” at home. The NYPD says they want to speak with everyone involved before deciding whether to press charges.

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