FAIRBURN, GA (CBS ATLANTA) -
Imagine pulling into a gas station to fill up your tank, only to find two armed gunman holding you up at gunpoint.
That's what one Fairburn man told police happened to him at a Citgo station on Senoia Road in South Fulton County, but surveillance cameras tell a very different story.
The man driving a2001 Acura told police he crashed it after he scared off two armed robbers last weekend.
"Two masked men with guns confronted him and tried to rob him and take his car - but that somehow they were scared during the scuffle and ran off," said Fairburn Police spokesman Sergeant Anthony Bazydlo.
On surveillance video you can see Larohn Cooper walking away from the wreck, scratching his head - but you can't see any armed robbers.
Fairburn Police now say Cooper faked the whole story, and he was done-in by nearby surveillance cameras.
"Our investigators took a look at the video from the gas station it was revealed there was no robbery, there was no confrontation," continued Bazydlo. "That the subject pulled up to gas, crashed into protective barrier and called police."
Cops say Cooper told investigators the Acura he was driving was his cousin's car.
We tried asking Cooper the tough questions at his mother's home but nobody would come to the door.
Sergeant Bazydlo says Cooper endangered the safety of police officers - and citizens - when he filed the false report.
"When an officer gets a call for something like that you're going to get three or four officers to leave their assigned zones that they should be covering and patrolling, watching out for real crime,and instead those officers are now responding to a fake crime that didn't actually happen," explained Bazydlo. "At the end of the day it's endangering officers by calling in a bogus crime like that."
Fairburn Police charged Cooper with filing a false police report, a misdemeanor. Plus, Cooper faces another charge for the bag of marijuana cops say he left inside the car before leaving the scene. Cooper will get to tell his story to a judge in March.
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