A 19-year-old college student in suburban Atlanta, Aftab Aslam, is being accused of faking his own kidnapping to avoid telling his parents he was failing a class.
Aslam is facing one misdemeanor charge of making a false crime report and three felony charges of making false statements, tampering with evidence and making terroristic threats. He is being held at the Fulton County Jail without bond.
According to Johns Creek Police spokesman Doug Nurse, Aslam reportedly hid in an undeveloped area of Forsyth County for a week and went home when the weather turned cold and rainy.
Before disappearing, he bought a cell phone and texted his parents a story about being kidnapped on April 27. He acted as his make-believe abductors and told his parents not to call the police or they would kill the young college student.
His parents did alert the police, who then brought in the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation for what was classified as an "intensive investigation."
Upon returning home, he kept up his story and told investigators and his parents he was held captive and drugged, hoping this story and its "resolution" would get him off the hook for failing an English class (for the second time) at Georgia Gwinnett College.
Aslam turned himself in to the authorities and under cross-examination he admitted to the whole charade. He bought an expendable phone at Target three days before "the abduction" and allegedly camped out in a tent in an open field in Forsyth County for eight days, Nurse said.
