The Hoover Police Department announced on Friday that it filed criminal charges against Carlee Russell after she admitted to fabricating a kidnapping story earlier this month.

The 25-year-old nursing student had claimed that she was kidnapped while checking on a toddler on the side of the road in Alabama. Her disappearance lasted for 49 hours.

The Hoover Police Department said that after conferring with the Jefferson County District Attorney’s Office in Bessemer and presenting all of the known facts to them, the case was referred back to the Hoover Municipal Court for charging.

Russell was charged with two Class A misdemeanors: False Reporting to Law Enforcement Authorities and Falsely Reporting an Incident.

If convicted on both charges, Russell faces up to two years in jail and a $12,000 fine. Bond was set at $2,000.

“Her decisions that night created panic and alarm for the citizens of our city and even across the nation as concern grew that a kidnapper was on the loose using a small child as bait,” said Hoover Police Chief Nicholas C. Derzis. “The story opened wounds for families whose loved ones really were victims of kidnappings, some of which even helped organize searches.”

Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said his office intends to “fully prosecute this case” and that his office will monitor the case for potential additional charges.

Russell attorney Emory Anthony released a statement this week with the permission of Russell that stated: “There was no kidnapping on Thursday July 13. My client did not see a baby on the side on the road.”

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“My client did not have any help in this incident. This was a single act done by herself,” the statement said. “My client was not with anyone or any hotel with anyone from the time she was missing. My client apologizes for her actions to this community, the volunteers who were searching for her, to the Hoover Police Department and other agencies as well and to her friends and family. We ask for your prayers for Carlee, as she addresses her issues and attempts to move forward, understanding that she made a mistake in this matter. Carlee again asks for your forgiveness and prayers.”

DailyWire+ announced Friday that production will start in September on its most ambitious production to date, a scripted series adaptation of the reimagined historical fantasy books based on King Arthur, “The Pendragon Cycle,” the multi-award-winning series written by Stephen R. Lawhead. Jeremy Boreing will direct the seven-episode first season with co-director Ryan Whitaker (“Surprised by Oxford”).

The company also announced Boreing will be taking a temporary leave of absence from his role as co-CEO of The Daily Wire and all its affiliated entities to direct his passion project and bring it to the screen. Co-CEO Caleb Robinson will assume the role of CEO until Boreing returns and resumes his position as co-CEO.

“I have dreamt of bringing Stephen R. Lawhead’s books to the screen for twenty-five years,” said Boreing. “Based on perhaps the most impactful myth in Western tradition, the Legend of King Arthur, this series helped shape my worldview since reading it as a teenager. Yet it is bittersweet, as to bring this project to screen means to leave the country and temporarily step down from my role as co-CEO of The Daily Wire.”

Recognized as Lawhead’s most acclaimed works, the DailyWire+ series’s first season is inspired by the first two books of the six-book series. The Pendragon Cycle is a unique retelling of the Arthurian legend, set not in the high Medieval age of knights in shining armor, but in the wake of a Roman-occupied Britain, where the seeds of Christianity are beginning to take root in the face of spiritual and physical darkness. As barbarian invaders threaten to lay claim to the Island of the Mighty, only those with faith in the true God will prevail.

Boreing, Robinson, and Ben Shapiro are executive producing. Dallas Sonnier and Danielle Cox of Bonfire Legend, Daniel Kresmery of Hero Squared, and Whitaker also executive produce. Travis Mills, Ari Novak, and Amanda Presmyk are producing, alongside Jonathan Halperyn of Hero Squared, Augusto Pellicca of Augustus Color, and Jules Nasso.

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The filming of the first season will be on location in Hungary and Italy through the end of the year with the multinational cast coming together now. The series will stream exclusively on DailyWire+ in 2024.

2023 is proving to be a big year for DailyWire+’s entertainment endeavor, with several major general audience projects to hit the platform in the next year, including “Convicting a Murderer,” a 10-episode series that is a response to the controversial 2015 series, “Making a Murderer,” presented by firebrand host Candace Owens. The company will also launch its much-anticipated kids’ entertainment offering later this year.