Woman Arrested For Pretending To Be Abducted, Claiming Fake Cop Blindfolded Her At Gunpoint

A 23-year-old woman has been arrested for allegedly cooking up an elaborate story about being kidnapped by a fake cop with a gun in Pennsylvania.

Chloe Stein was found at an acquaintance's house Tuesday after law enforcement officials conducted a widespread search for her that cost thousands of dollars, WPXI reported.

"I think the biggest thing was, this entire community was very scared because of the information we had," Trooper Steve Limani said, as per the outlet.

Before her scam came to light, Stein was last seen leaving Sonic in Hempfield Township at 10:30 p.m. Monday.

The search for Stein soon began after she allegedly texted her boyfriend indicating that she had been pulled over. She appeared to vanish soon after sending the text message.

Stein's Volkswagen Beetle was found abandoned along Radebaugh Road Tuesday. The vehicle's doors were locked, and her phone was inside of it.

It is believed that Stein left the car at the spot before proceeding to an address in Jeannette. She was found at the residence after cops received a tip about her whereabouts.

Stein initially told investigators she had been abducted by a man posing as a police officer. She said the abductor, whom she described as someone armed with a gun, had blindfolded her before taking her to different locations in the county.

Police eventually told the woman her account did not match the evidence they had. It was then that Stein admitted to concocting the entire story. Moreover, authorities determined that the minor cuts Stein had were all self-inflicted.

Officials later informed the public that Stein's abduction was a hoax and assured people that there was no kidnapper on the loose, CBS News reported.

Investigators also found that Stein's family was under the impression that she was graduating from Penn State Greater Allegheny the coming weekend. However, when university officials were contacted, they said Stein had not attended the school in over a year and a half.

Limani reportedly said Stein may have thought she had no choice other than to fake her abduction because her loved ones were looking forward to celebrating her graduation — something only she knew would not happen.

"The situation at college was a driving force, probably the number one driving force for the whole scenario," Limani said, according to CBS News.

Stein was arrested and is facing charges that include false alarm to agency of public safety, false reports, obstruction of administration of law and other governmental functions and disorderly conduct.

Police are working to estimate the total cost of the manpower and resources utilized in the search for Stein, which reportedly went on for six to seven hours and involved K9s and "tens of thousands of dollars."

"We're going to find out what the cost was and once we're done getting a total we're going to present it to the District Attorney's office to see if restitution can be a part of whatever punishment is going to be imposed," Limani said, as per WPXI.