Indiana woman pleads guilty to charge in staged kidnapping

PRINCETON, Ind. (AP) - An Indiana woman has pleaded guilty to staging her own kidnapping.

The Evansville Courier & Press reports that a Gibson County Judge this week ordered 24-year-old Hannah Potts to complete 120 hours of community service after she pleaded guilty to false informing.

Judge Jeffrey F. Meade also sentenced Potts to 360 days in jail, but that was suspended to probation.

According to court documents, Potts told police that she enlisted two other people to help Potts fake the disappearance for a manuscript she was writing. She also told police that she rehearsed for a week before posting a video to Facebook in July claiming a Black man had kidnapped her.

Police found her two days after the claimed disappearance in the basement of the two other people involved in the staged kidnapping.

Joshua Thomas, 45, and Maria Hopper, 35, also previously pleaded guilty and received probation.