West Virginia mother to be charged after ‘making up abduction tale’ – Santana Renee Adams claimed she pulled a gun on an Egyptian man, Monday, when he tried to kidnap her daughter inside an Old Navy store
Authorities in Barboursville say a local woman will be charged after ‘making up abduction tale and claiming Egyptian man tried to kidnap her daughter’ on Monday
Santana Renee Adams is accused of falsely reporting an emergency incident, over an incident that happened inside an Old Navy at the Huntington Mall, West Virginia Barboursville police say
Authorities say the incident that may have been caused by cultural differences and the charges against Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan were dropped Thursday
He allegedly ‘grabbed a five-year-old girl by her hair’ inside the store, that prompted the girl’s mother to pull out a handgun on Zayan, who is Egyptian
Zayan a 54-year-old engineer from Alexandria, Egypt, who is in the area for work, doesn’t speak English, and may have simply been patting the girl on the head, police said
Santana Renee Adams [left] was arrested instead, on Friday after West Virginia police determined she caused Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan [right] to be arrested based on a false abduction report on April 1
Barboursville Police Detective Greg Lucas said they plan to charge Santana Renee Adams with falsely reporting an emergency incident.
The charge would be the latest turn in a sensational tale of a mother who used a gun to thwart an abduction but quickly unraveled amid inconsistencies in her story.
Authorities on Thursday announced they were dropping charges against the man, Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan. Police say he may have simply been patting the girl on the head.
Santana Renee Adams is escorted into Cabell County Magistrate Court Friday to be arraigned on criminal charges for falsely reporting an attempted abduction
The criminal charges stem from Adams [photo], falsely reporting that an Egyptian man attempted to kidnap her daughter from a West Virginia shopping mall Monday evening
The charges stem from Adams falsely reporting that an Egyptian man attempted to kidnap her daughter from a West Virginia shopping mall Monday evening.
Police had initially said a woman pulled a gun on Zayan, forcing him to release her five-year-old daughter inside the Old Navy at the Huntington Mall. 
He was arrested near the Huntington Mall’s food court on an attempted abduction charge.
But her story started falling apart when no witnesses could be found and mall surveillance video showed inconsistencies in her original statement.
That led to police saying the Adams then said she may have misinterpreted the Zayan’s intentions.
Authorities on Thursday announced they were dropping charges against Mohamed Fathy Hussein Zayan, [photo], after it was determined that Santana Renee Adams had falsely filed a charge of kidnapping against him
Police said that the whole incident stemmed over a ‘cultural misunderstanding’.
Zayan doesn’t speak English, and police say he may have simply been patting the girl on the head. The 54-year-old engineer from Alexandria, Egypt, who is in the area for work.
He cried as he greeted family members upon his release from jail. The young girl’s mother said she thwarted the kidnapping attempt by pulling a gun out and scaring him off – but Barboursville police now say they’re going to charge Santana Renee Adams with falsely reporting an emergency incident
The girl had been shopping with her mother inside an Old Navy [photo], store at Huntington Mall in Barboursville, West Virginia on Monday night
The girl had been shopping with her mother inside an Old Navy store at Huntington Mall in Barboursville, West Virginia on Monday night. 
The mother initially told police that she had been shopping on Monday evening with her daughter at the Old Navy store when Zayan ‘grabbed the child by the hair and attempted to pull her away’.
She said the girl tried to stop her kidnapper, dropping to the floor as he was ‘still pulling her away’. That’s when the girl’s mother pulled out a handgun and told the man to let go of her daughter.
The mother told investigators that the man released her daughter and sprinted out of the store and back into the mall, according to WSAZ.
She gave officers a description of the suspect. Officers and mall security then spotted Zayan walking near the food court and arrested him.
He was subsequently charged with attempted abduction shortly after 6pm.
But police later said they found inconsistencies with the mother’s report, according to WOWK.
The suspect was arrested. Mohamed Zayan denied the accusations and even said he couldn’t tell you what the mom and child look like. He also said a gun was never pulled on him, as the mother claimed.
Police say Zayan may have simply been patting the girl on the head and smiling. – Video surveillance near the Old Navy entrance shows Zayan and Adams calmly walking out of the store nearly 35 seconds apart and going in opposite directions.
Investigators confirmed that Adams had a gun in her front pocket, a 9 mm Smith and Wesson.
Investigators say they’re not sure about a motive for Adams making her original statement and then changing it.
She was asked to return to the police station to give a further statement, and reportedly admitted she may have misjudged the suspect’s intentions.
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