... to Felony
FREAK


By DANIEL YEE, Associated Press Writer




LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. - With her once-jilted fiance at her side, runaway bride Jennifer Wilbanks pleaded no contest Thursday to a felony charge and wept as she was sentenced to probation, community service and a fine.



"I'm truly sorry for my actions and I just want to thank Gwinnett County and the city of Duluth," a crying Wilbanks told the judge as she pleaded to a charge of making a false statement.

She was sentenced to two years of probation and 120 hours of community service. The judge also ordered her to continue mental health treatment and pay the sheriff's office $2,550.

If she successfully completes her probation, the felony will be erased from her record, Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said.

Wilbanks, whose disappearance before her wedding in April created a nationwide sensation, was wearing a black outfit and running shoes as she arrived at the Gwinnett County courthouse Thursday to make her plea. Her fiance John Mason, whom she was to have married April 30 in a lavish ceremony, was by her side.

Wilbanks was indicted last week on charges of making a false statement and making a false police report. She could have faced up to six years in prison and $11,000 in fines if convicted of both charges. The misdemeanor false report charge was dropped as part of her plea deal.

Wilbanks also could also have been ordered to reimburse authorities for the cost of the search, which has been tallied at more than $50,000. She's already agreed to pay part of the tab: On Tuesday, she said she would pay $13,250 to the city of Duluth, Ga., to help offset the overtime costs the city incurred searching for her.

"She's done everything that we would ask of her," Wilbanks' attorney, Lydia Sartain, said Thursday morning before sentencing. "She has accepted responsibility."

Wilbanks, a nurse, disappeared from her Duluth home on April 26, four days before she was to have been married at a high-profile ceremony with 600 guests and 28 attendants. She took a bus to Las Vegas and then Albuquerque, N.M.

She initially claimed she was abducted and sexually assaulted, but later recanted and said she fled because of unspecified personal issues days before the wedding. The false statement charge under which she was sentenced stemmed from a phone call she made relaying the abduction and assault allegations from New Mexico to Georgia.

Family members say she has been receiving psychiatric treatment at an unspecified facility

I'd hit that.