Charles man charged with filing fake carjacking report

The Charles County sheriff's office says a man faces charges over a phony carjacking report.

Officials said Tuesday that they have issued a criminal summons charging 49-year-old Garry Michael Roberts of White Plains with filing a false statement to a police officer.

Authorities say an officer noticed an abandoned car in Port Tobacco on May 7. A tow truck came to remove it, but then a man emerged from the nearby woods and claimed to be the driver.

Roberts said he had been carjacked from a gas station. Several more officers arrived at the scene and another went to the gas station.

After a two-hour investigation, officers found there had been no carjacking. Officials say Roberts later admitted that he lied because he ran out of gas while using a company car.

-- Associated Press