MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – The missing Myrtle Beach teen, Marley McKenna Spindler, who was located in Mt. Pleasant after six days of searching in late August, was in court earlier this month on one charge of filing a false police report.
Caroline Fox with the Horry County Solicitor’s Office says Spindler was in family court October 2 for a hearing on the charge she faces following her nearly week long disappearance in late August.
Spindler, charged with filing a false police report on August 27, did spend some time in jail in Charleston until she was released on electronic monitoring. Electronic monitoring was a condition of her release, according to Fox.
Judge A. E. Morehead III presided over the October 2 hearing where Spindler received a probationary sentence with many requirements, although Fox could not release the details of those mandates.
Fox reports that Judge Morehead took into account that Spindler spent some time in jail in Charleston before she was released on electronic monitoring. “The judge carefully crafted the order to reflect the circumstances,” adds Fox.
Spindler was located six days after she was reported missing when a Mount Pleasant Police Officer spotted a vehicle that matched the description and license plate of the SUV Spindler was last seen driving.
The Mount Pleasant officer documented that Spindler explained she picked up a drunken friend in Myrtle Beach and that someone she didn’t know got into the car and told her where to go. Spindler told police that the unknown person indicated they knew where she lived and she would get into trouble if she didn’t follow directions.
The officer also noted Spindler claimed to have been sexually assaulted while being in the Charleston area.
Detectives secured the vehicle Spindler was driving and took her to a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner at MUSC to collect forensic evidence that could help identify the suspect in the alleged assault.
In the report, the officer says that while taking Spindler back to the police department from the hospital, and discussing more details about what happened, the officer realized that there was an inconsistency in Spindler’s story.
Detectives were finally able to determine Spindler fabricated the entire story, including the alleged assault, and officers charged the 16-year-old with filing a false police report.
The Horry County Solicitor’s Office was not able to release information on whether Spindler is currently on electronic monitoring.
