Valetine's Day a Banker 27 yr. old man in Chicago supposedly told his wife he was going to his office. Never got there. Found his 2004 vehicle on the south side of Chicago.
Took 5,200 hundred dollars out of his account.
His wife who is 6 months pregant called police Monday to report him missing.
He called on a cell phone headed to Morraco to his uncle to say he was kidnapped by Al Quaida.
To make a long story short he now says he had a fight with his wife and just wanted to get away from things.
The plane he was on was forced back to Maine.
Authorities say if convicted of this made up story he can face up to five yrs.
OMG. He has a argument with his wife and this is how he reacts?
I think he should face a lot longer sentence than 5 yrs.
The FBI Chicago Police New York and Maine police were involved AND they made an airplane headed to Morraco turn back to Maine.
What are your thoughts? What should be the correct sentence?

Hard labor sounds good to me. In that case, five years would probably be adequate. The sweat and the calluses would give him reason to reflect on how good his life was before he pulled this stunt.

Not only did he hurt his wife, he involved so many agencies in this wild goose chase that are needed to deal with genuine terrorist threats.

I agree with you, Momof3. It's despiccable.

To assist in this debate, here is an article from the Chicago Sun Times regarding this matter: Man claims al-Qaida put him on jet.

Wait, Five years for this? Your going to send someone to the big house for five years just because he lied about being captured by AL Queda. At most, this was a big headache for the FBI and his wife.

Maybe a huge fine, or a couple months in jail, but sending someone to jail for a large portion of their life doesn't seem to fit this crime.

Making false statements to federal and local authorities is a big no-no and is a felony offense with type and length of punishment prescribed by law according to the degree of the offense. Looks like he may be faced with additional charges from Chicago Police and Chicago FBI. Think the five years is the maximum punishment for lying to the federal authorities, but doesn't necessarily mean that he will actually serve five years if found guilty. Of course, if they keep adding more charges...he could receive the maximum sentence of five years and more per additional charges.

When I hear and read about the crazy and stupid things people still do at airports and on planes (especially after 911 and all the hyped security), I think if their records are clean-rather than go to prison (and their family risk losing everything), these nuts should have to work a long time to pay off a large chunk of the final tab for all expenses incurred due to their acts of irresponsibility and disregard for the law and all others concerned. Hit them where it really hurts...in the pocketbook!

Reminds me of another recent crazy who lied to his family and friends that his military wife died in Iraq so he could justify their relationship to his girlfriend! He also lied to the authorities when questioned...so he will face charges too.

Let's see, after five years in prison on a felony conviction, his only chance of ever working again as a banker is to lie on his application. I think that looking forward to a life of unemployment is effectively hitting him in the pocketbook.

That said, a lot of judges have complained in the news that current Federal Sentencing guidelines leave them with no leeway to sentence someone more leniently if they see no chance of recidivism. This might be a classic example of what they are complaining about. Is there any real chance of this person repeatedly acting this crazy? I expect that his lawyers will enter an insanity plea. In their summary, they will turn to a jury and ask, "Who in their right mind would lie to their wife, and the police, about being forced aboard an airplane by al-Qaida?"

Depends if your married to a shrew! Although I don't think he should get away scot free on this, maybe the punishment would be a little strict. Not because of the time, per say. A felony conviction would make it hard to get a real job again and would also deprive him of the privilige of voting and other civil rights (if memory serves me right). Anyways, he's married. Isn't that punishment enough?