Grand jury indicts suspect in hoax Amber Alert

A federal grand jury decided Wednesday that the woman who initiated a fake Amber Alert in Smithfield last year should be tried for making false statements.

Rosnah Hassan Thomason, 43, of Four Oaks, told authorities 3-year-old Siraj Munir "Roji" Davenport disappeared from Brightleaf Flea Market, on U.S. Highway 301 South in Smithfield, on May 18, 2008.

Smithfield police, Johnston County deputies and the FBI searched for the boy on the ground and in a helicopter for three days before determining he hadn't been abducted and that the report of his disappearance was false.

Thomason was charged with knowingly and willfully making materially false, fictitious or fraudulent statements to law enforcement, according to a criminal complaint filed Sept. 4 in U.S. District Court.

The grand jury indicted Thomason Wednesday on those charges. In September, Thomason waived her right to a probable cause hearing and was released into the custody of a co-worker who lives in Spring Lake. She is prohibited from contacting the boy and must get permission from federal probation officials to go outside of Harnett and Cumberland counties.