Aurora woman charged with faking her own kidnapping

An 18-year-old Aurora woman faces a charge of felony disorderly conduct after she apparently faked her own kidnapping, police said Monday.

Roshelle Jeffries of the 1300 block of Elder Drive was in the Kane County jail after being charged late Saturday night, authorities said.

Aurora police, with help from the FBI and Elgin police, said they spent several hours looking for Jeffries after her family reported her apparent kidnapping around 11 p.m. Friday.

They said Jeffries' sister began receiving cell phone text messages from Jeffries' phone about an hour earlier, indicating she had been kidnapped and sexually assaulted by gang members.

A ransom of $2,000 was demanded for her safe return, police said.

During the five-hour search, police said a trace was conducted on Jeffries' cell phone indicating she was in Elgin. After contacting Elgin police, they identified a subject living near the area of the cell phone tower that last transmitted a signal from Jeffries' telephone as possibly being involved.

Police said they found Jeffries with a 28-year-old man in his apartment in the 300 block of East Chicago Street. She was safe and unharmed.

The Kane County state's attorney's office authorized the felony disorderly conduct charge after detectives interviewed both Jeffries and the man with whom she was found.

Jeffries apparently sent the text messages herself because she was upset with her mother, police said.

The man was released without charges.