POLK COUNTY, Fla. – A 19-year-old Frostproof man has been arrested and charged after confessing he fabricated a story about being attacked by white men posing as law enforcement in an attempt to convince his parents to let him move to Tampa.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd referred to the incident as the “Polk County Jussie Smollett” case, referencing the celebrity who filed a false police report in Chicago.
The incident began when David Cruz, 19, dialed 911 to report a ‘serious’ crime.
Cruz claimed he was stopped by “some white dudes… with a southern accent driving a pickup truck with red and blue lights who said they were cops.” Cruz reported that the men handcuffed him, beat him up, and cut him with a box cutter.
Judd stated that deputies immediately launched an “intensive investigation” into the serious allegations. However, the story quickly unraveled. According to Judd, “David couldn’t tell the lies in the right order more than one time.”
When confronted with the inconsistencies, Cruz eventually confessed, admitting, “I lied to y’all. I made every bit of that up.”
The suspect’s motive was to manufacture a reason to relocate.
Cruz reportedly told investigators that he “wanted to move to Tampa and I needed to be able to tell my parents I got to get out of here because of the cops that wanted to beat me up and handcuff me and it was safer in Tampa.”
Cruz was arrested and booked into the county jail.
“How’d that work for you, David Cruz?” Sheriff Judd asked. “You’re locked up in the county jail for false report of a crime, misuse of 911, all kinds of other stuff.”
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