Mother charged in abduction hoax waives preliminary hearing

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (KWQC) - The mother accused of lying to police about her daughter being abducted has waived the formal reading of her charges.

She pleaded not guilty on Tuesday at the Rock Island County Courthouse.

A pretrial conference for Princess Ilunga of Rock Island is set for 1 p.m. April 3.

An earlier preliminary hearing was rescheduled after a Swahili interpreter didn’t attend court.

On Tuesday, no interpreter was present, but her lawyer said he felt confident about continuing without one.

Ilunga is charged with a Class 4 felony of false report of an offense after police said she told a 911 dispatcher that her daughter was in her running vehicle that was stolen out of her driveway.

Police said her 4-year-old daughter was never missing and was in the home the whole time until she was discovered nine and a half hours later by volunteer searchers.

See KWQC’s previous coverage here: Rock Island chief says abduction report of 4-year-old ‘intentional deception’