Police arrest people who file false robbery reports

Tulsa robbery detectives say they've had three false reports filed in the past week.<br/><br/>They say with so many real crimes and so few officers to work them, they are going to arrest and get charges

Tuesday, June 13th 2006, 4:51 pm

By: News On 6

Tulsa robbery detectives say they've had three false reports filed in the past week.

They say with so many real crimes and so few officers to work them, they are going to arrest and get charges filed on people who waste the department's time with lies.

News on 6 crime reporter Lori Fullbright takes a look at the issue.

The first case involved a woman with a wrecked car. She told police she'd been kidnapped then carjacked. Turns out she'd been at a nearby bar drinking and there was no carjacking.

Officers arrested the 26 year old for filing a false report.

Sgt Dave Walker of the Tulsa Robbery Squad says, "We are determining they're lying to cover up addictions or whatever reason and we're going to file charges and let them fight it out in court."

A second case involves a woman who says she filled a prescription for Xanax at this store, but, then said she was robbed of it in the parking lot.

Police quickly proved that purse snatching to be false, but some of these cases can take much more time, like the third case. A woman who said a man kidnapped her, made her write bad checks, then stole her wedding rings.

Officers set up an undercover sting to buy back the rings, only to learn she'd actually traded them for drugs.

Each time the victim was confronted with the evidence, they admitted they lied. Police say with the manpower shortage the way it is, they're can't afford to ignore it anymore.

Police say they used to just move on after learning a victim was lying, but, now feel they must get charges filed in order to teach these people a lesson and make others think twice before doing the same.

Detectives have plenty of very serious robberies that actually need their attention.

Walker says, "It's irritating to us when we've got people beating up old women and other people we need to get after, to be chasing ghosts."

Filing a false police report is a misdemeanor that carries up to a 500 dollar fine and a year in jail.