HEMPFIELD, Pa. – A 23-year-old woman who dropped out of Penn State University reportedly developed an elaborate abduction hoax and lied that she was stopped by police in order to cover up the fact that she was not going to graduate from college, according to reports.
Chloe Stein hails from Jeannette, Pa. but was reported missing after she vanished from a Sonic restaurant, where she works in Hempfield, at about 10:35 p.m. Monday, WTAE reported.
Stein sent a text message to her boyfriend that night that she was stopped by police while driving along a desolate stretch of road in the city before disappearing for the next 20 hours.
Her boyfriend and two of his friends discovered her abandoned VW along Radebaugh Road under a Toll Route 66 bridge. As a result, law enforcement authorities issued a Missing Endangered Person Advisory and launched a search for the woman.
Lt. Steve Limani with the Pennsylvania State Police said authorities received a tip Tuesday at about 8 p.m. that Stein was safe at the home of a local acquaintance.
Police found the woman and she was taken in for questioning. During the interview it became clear she had abandoned her Volkswagen Beetle, with her cellphone inside, about a mile from the Sonic, and walked three miles to the residence, the New York Post reported.
Chloe Stein claimed she was abducted to hide the fact that she was not going to graduate from Penn State as her family expected, according to authorities. She dropped out of college more than a year and a half ago. (Image via New York Post)
However, Stein’s tall tale included getting abducted at gunpoint by a masked man before she was eventually released near the home. She later admitted the story was a hoax, WTAE reported, citing court documents.
“She was released after being held at gunpoint and semi-assaulted, we’ll call it, and bound,” Limani told CBS News about the fabricated story.
“So then she was released and dropped off near an alleyway near her home. Of course, ’cause that’s what someone would do,” he sarcastically added.
Stein’s family believed she was on course to graduate from Penn State Greater Allegheny. A university official told police she had not attended classes for more than a year and a half.
“The situation at college was a driving force, probably the number one driving force for the whole scenario,” Limani told WTAE.
“The fact that she hadn’t been in college for almost two years — her circle had believed she was graduating in a matter of two or three days,” he noted.
The manpower and equipment deployed during the search for Stein cost “tens of thousands of dollars,” according to Limani.
“There was never any police stop. There was never any pullover. None of that happened,” the lieutenant confirmed. Stein “recklessly endangered the lives of others” and scared her family and friends, Trib Live reported.
“We were concerned before that we had a criminal investigation that may possibly be whatever you want to call it, kidnapping, some type of assault, who knows what it could’ve been, so we went from investigating that type of potential crime to now we are trying to investigate what is this type of crime, when you are risking inconvenience, alarm, alarming a community,” he told WTAE.
Consequently, Stein faces several charges, which include false alarm to the agency of public safety, false reports, disorderly conduct, and obstruction of the administration of law and other government functions.
