New details surrounding false kidnapping report incident released

Court documents shed new light on false kidnapping incident

New details surrounding a false reporting incident that sparked an intense search for a supposed child have been released via court documents.

PHOENIX - Court documents have shed new light on a stolen truck incident that sparked a big search due to false reports of a child inside the stolen vehicle.

Incident began with stolen vehicle

According to earlier reports by FOX 10, the incident began along Indian School Road, west of Central Avenue. Initially, Sgt. Mercedes Fortune with Phoenix Police said the caregivers of the ‘child,’ along with a couple, went into a convenience store in the area, and at some point, the couple went back to the truck, and drove the vehicle away, with the ‘child’ inside.

Police were called after the vehicle was stolen. A description of the "'child' was also made to investigators, which included the clothing the ‘child’ was wearing at the time. At one point, an AMBER Alert was ready to be issued for the ‘child.’

"The resources which were used during this investigation worked tirelessly to find the alleged kidnapped baby. A police helicopter was also utilized during the search," read a portion of a statement released by police on the night of May 12.

Officers later found the allegedly stolen truck near 19th Avenue and Orangewood, but no child was inside. The couple, later identified as 40-year-old Stormee Wagner and 37-year-old James E. Wagner, eventually came clean.

"Detectives have learned that the ‘caregiving couple' fabricated the story of the kidnapping. The couple wanted quicker police response to get their vehicle back from the suspects who took their truck without their permission," read a portion of the statement released on May 12.