Woman Staying At Willow Grove Hotel Charged In False 911 Kidnapping Call In N.J.

A woman whose 911 call claiming she was being abducted led to a massive law enforcement response in Howell Township, N.J., last week has been charged with creating a false public alarm, acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced Thursday afternoon.

Marian Petro, 46, of Fort Lee, N.J. was found Tuesday in a hotel in Willow Grove, Pa., where she was staying with extended family, said Charles Webster, spokesman for the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.

The incident began with a 911 call received by Monroe Township, N.J., police about 6:35 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 19, Webster said. In the call, the woman -- now identified as Petro -- said she was pulled over in a vehicle and forced into the back seat of another car at gunpoint near the intersection of Route 33 and Sweetmans Lane in Manalapan, N.J., Webster said.

Manalapan police officers responded but were unable to find the woman, the car or any witnesses to the incident, he said.

The investigation led to a possible location in the area of Hulses Corner Road and Fort Plains Road in Howell, Webster said, where police from several towns, as well as county, state and federal law enforcement agencies responded in an effort to find the victim. That investigation did not yield the reported victim, vehicle or any additional evidence of an abduction, Webster said.

After the area was cleared, the efforts to locate the caller and substantiate the report intensified, Webster said. On Tuesday, she was found, unharmed, at a hotel in Willow, Grove, Pa., where she was staying with her extended family.

Further investigation revealed she had purposely made several false statements in her 911 call when she claimed she was held at gunpoint and put into the backseat of a black Mercedes Benz by a black male with dreadlocks, Webster said.

Petro is charged with third-degree creating a false public alarm. She is being held in the Montgomery Township Correctional Facility, Lower Providence, Pa., pending extradition to New Jersey, he said.

If convicted of creating a false public alarm, Petro faces a sentence of three to five years in prison.

The case is assigned to Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Decker, director of the Office’s Major Crimes Bureau, Webster said.

The joint investigation was conducted with the partnership of the Manalapan Township Police Department, Howell Township Police Department, Howell Township Office of Emergency Management, Fort Lee Police Department, Carteret Police Department, Upper Moreland Township, Pa., Police Department, Hatboro, Pa., Police Department, New York City Police Department, Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management, Monmouth County Emergency Response Team, New Jersey State Police, United State Marshals Service, and Federal Bureau of Investigation.