Woman said she was kidnapped to get out of work

A Florida woman is accused of making up a lie about being kidnapped so she wouldn't have to return to her job as a night shift nursing assistant.

In a news release, the Panama City Police Department said its officers and other agencies spent several hours Monday morning looking for 43-year-old Beverly F. Brooks.

Reports say a concerned co-worker noticed Brooks didn't return from a break and called her at 2:30 am to see if she needed a ride back to work. Brooks told her she was being held against her will by her boyfriend. The boyfriend could be heard in the background telling her not to get out of the car, police said.

 

When they found her, she was hanging out with her boyfriend, James Vincent Hill Fennell Jr., 35. She told them she'd made up the story because she didn't want to go back to work

Both were later charged with false report of commission of a crime and booked into the county jail.

By Friday, Brooks was out on a pre-trial conditional release bond, an employee with the Bay County Jail said. Fennell, however, remains in jail. He has one previous felony charge against him and his bond is set at $20,000, the employee said.