Months after a Pearl woman told police she was beaten and carjacked, she’s facing charges in connection with faking the incident to get away with embezzlement.
41-year-old Chaquinta Lynell Russell, of Byram, reported to police that, after shopping at Save-A-Lot on Highway 80 over Memorial Day weekend, she was robbed at gunpoint by a man in the backseat of her car. In her reports, she detailed the assailant forcing her to drive to Mockingbird Lane in Jackson and beating her, eventually pulling her out of the car and fleeing. Russell was treated for minor injuries at the hospital following the incident.
During her report to law enforcement after the apparent carjacking, Russell noted that she was a manager at Dairy Queen in Pearl, and she had bank deposits from the restaurant in the car that had been stolen.
“Detectives learned that the night before the incident, an unknown person came into the Dairy Queen and stole night deposits for the business, but (Russell) did not report this incident to law enforcement or the business,” Pearl Police Chief Nick McLendon stated.
On June 8, the supposedly carjacked vehicle was stopped in Madison. Russell was inside the car along with Kenbrosky Smith, 38, of Jackson, and the bank bag that she had claimed to have been stolen in the carjacking. Russell and Smith were questioned by Pearl Police, though both denied knowing anything.
Russell is charged with false report of a crime to law enforcement and embezzlement, with other charges pending. Smith is charged with accessory after the fact in the case.
