By KIM SKORNOGOSKI
Tribune Staff Writer
Charges that Alderwoman Darlene Heatherington of Lethbridge, Alberta, lied to Great Falls police that she had been abducted were wiped clean Thursday, a year after she appeared in a Great Falls court.
The 40-year-old had signed a plea agreement that the misdemeanor charge would be dropped if she stayed out of trouble for a year and saw a psychiatrist.
Assistant City Attorney Kory Larsen said Thursday that she complied with both conditions and the filing false reports charge was dropped as a formality.
A bizarre odyssey, Heatherington's disappearance cost Great Falls police $14,000 to search for her.
Heatherington was in Great Falls as part of a sister-city information exchange. Her car was discovered in the Civic Center parking lot with the keys under a tire.
The mother of three eventually was found four days later in a Las Vegas hotel.
At first she told police that she was drugged, raped and kidnapped, but later admitted she went willingly with a married man from Alberta whom she met on the River's Edge Trail.
The misdemeanor carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $545. Heatherington paid $100 in court costs.
The last year has been a bumpy ride for the Alderwoman, as Canadian media have doggedly followed more charges filed against her in Lethbridge.
On paid leave from the council, Heatherington is on trial for public mischief charges as Lethbridge law enforcement believes she sent herself sexual explicit e-mails and letters and then claiming that she was being stalked.
Judge Peter Caffaro of Edmonton is to hand down his verdict June 30 in Lethbridge provincial court. He presided over her trial which made Canadian headlines and newscasts for several weeks in February and March.
Since her bizarre story first made headlines in May 2003, Lethbridge Mayor Bob Tarleck and her fellow aldermen have repeatedly urged her to step down from the city council but she has refused.
The Lethbridge Herald contributed to this report.
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