OZARK, Mo. -- Police Chief Lyle Hodges says a fake kidnapping of a child by some juveniles on Tuesday could have cost law enforcement officers a lot of money and time. Hodges says the kidnapping was staged for a movie in a parking lot near Missouri 14 at U.S. 65.
After other people became alarmed about the apparent kidnapping and called 911, law enforcement officers in Ozark and Nixa scrambled to try to intercept a vehicle as it drove west out of Ozark. Five minutes after officers started racing to set up roadblocks, Hodges says, 911 call-takers learned the kidnapping was fake and notified the officers.
"Had the car not been located quickly, the resources of every law enforcement agency in the area would have been taxed to provide a needless response," Hodges said in a news release on Wednesday morning.
Hodges says the juveniles involved in the the fake kidnapping were questioned and released to their parents.
