A 39-year-old homeless man was arrested in Santa Monica on Friday, June 21 after informing police officers he had falsely been robbed at gunpoint.
At 8:50 pm officers of the Santa Monica Police Department responded to the 1900 block of Main Street after they had learned about an armed robbery that had happened.
The officers were then informed the victim had said that he had been robbed of $50 at gunpoint.
When the officers arrived they were in a state of heightened alertness due to the nature of the report, and after they had spotted a possible suspect they drew their weapons and arrested the suspect at the point of a gun (or guns in this case).
The victim identified the suspect and the officers cautiously searched this suspect.
The officers failed to find either a gun, or the money that the victim had claimed was stolen.
The officers asked the victim a few probing questions and the story soon began to fall apart.
Eventually the victim admitted that he had fabricated the whole incident after he had been involved in a verbal argument with the suspect.
The officers arrested this “Walter Mitty” type of character (who happened to be drunk) and he was charged with falsely reporting a crime and public intoxication.
Bail for this homeless man was set at $250 real dollars.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
