RICHMOND, Va. – Pranksters beware: Reporting or acting out false crimes could cost you thousands of dollars and up to a year in jail time.
This is if some lawmakers in the General Assembly have their way. The proposal stems from a fake viral video last year of a woman being abducted at a Chesterfield Walmart.
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A bill passed in the Virginia Senate would make knowingly reporting a false crime to mislead police illegal.
Kevin Carroll, with the Fraternal Order of Police, said, "We want to make sure the public knows that this is not something that we need to be doing. It is a waste of vital resources for the community to try to take police officers, state troopers, sheriffs off of what they're doing to go and respond to these calls for service."
If the legislation becomes a law, anyone who violates it could be slapped with a $2,500 fine and face up to a year of jail time.