TIFTON — Authorities indicted a Gainesville man Tuesday for posting a video on YouTube stating that he was responsible for the murder of Tara Grinstead, who disappeared from her Ocilla home on Oct. 22, 2005. Authorities said Tuesday the man’s claims were a hoax.

According to a press release issued by the GBI, a Hall County grand jury indicted Andrew Scott Haley on charges of tampering with evidence and making false statements.

“We don’t think he killed her, but what he did cost law enforcement hundreds of dollars and man-hours and a lot of anguish for the family,” said Gary Rothwell, GBI Special Agent in Charge of the continuing investigation into Grinstead’s disappearance.

Haley is charged with making claims in a video posted on the YouTube Web site that he was responsible for Grinstead’s murder. The GBI began looking into the case in February. Authorities said Haley gave information concerning Grinstead’s disappearance and clues as to the location of her body, posting under the name “catchmekiller.” The posts claimed responsibility for the death of 16 people, including Grinstead, and indicated the author intended to kill again.

GBI agents were made aware of the “catchmekiller” video when a link was posted to the video on the Web site dedicated to Jennifer Kesse, a missing Florida woman. Drew Kesse, her father, contacted Florida authorities in hopes that “catchmekiller” had information concerning the disappearance of his daughter.

With the help of the GBI’s High Tech Unit, agents traced “catchmekiller” to Gainesville and identified Haley as a suspect. During one of the video posts, the person posting admitted he knew authorities were looking for him and indicated he would kill his 17th victim if authorities attempted to contact him. The original video has been pulled from YouTube.

The disappearance of Grinstead, a high school teacher and former beauty queen, has drawn national attention. Her story has aired on CBS' “48 Hours” twice and in June 2008, a new clue in the case was revealed on one of the episodes titled “Stolen Beauty” — a glove found at the crime scene. The segment drew similarities between Grinstead’s disappearance and that of Kesse. The investigators in the two cases discussed the cases and the CBS crew followed Georgia investigators to Florida as they taped the show.

According to the indictment against Haley, the tampering with evidence charge stemmed from the “intent to prevent the apprehension of and to obstruct the prosecution of another person, knowingly make and prepare false evidence, to-wit: he made a video and disseminated it to the Internet via “YouTube,” claiming he killed a person later identified as Tara Grinstead and gave clues as to the location of her body parts, in violation of O.C.G.A. 16-10-94.” Also, according to the indictment, the charge of making false statements stemmed from Haley’s allegedly “knowingly and willfully mak(ing) a false and fictitious statement and representation in a matter within the jurisdiction of the GBI...by calling himself the “catchmekiller” and stating that he killed 16 people, in violation of O.C.G.A. 16-10-20.”

According to information in Rothwell’s press release, other states, including Florida, have laws specifically dealing with Internet hoaxes, but Georgia has not enacted any such laws as of this time.

Lee Darragh, the district attorney for the Northeastern Judicial Circuit, which includes Hall and Dawson counties, would not comment on Haley’s indictment.

Rothwell said that Paul Bowden, the district attorney for the Tifton Judicial Circuit, was instrumental in letting Darragh know the importance of the case against Haley.

Ocilla Police Chief Billy Hancock was listed as a witness for the Hall County grand jury hearing held Tuesday. He could not be reached for comment late Tuesday.