By Tamas Mondovics
Staging a fake crime just to stay home from work doesn’t really pay off, and it can land a person in jail. This was confirmed last month following a mock burglary by a man who couldn’t think of a better way to call off work.
In the early morning hours, Hillsborough County Sheriff’s deputies responded to 1037 Bridlewood Way in Brandon after Dwayne Yeager called the HCSO non-emergency line and reported that he just came home and discovered that his house was broken into.
According to deputies, Yeager, 32, claimed that he spotted a suspect vehicle drive away from his residence as he was returning home.
When deputies arrived, they observed the front door open and that the interior of the house appeared to have been ransacked. They also saw that the front bedroom window and blinds were open, but did not discover any signs of forced entry.
HCSO spokesperson Larry McKinnon said deputies then conducted a neighborhood survey and learned from a confidential source that Yeager was seen leaving his residence at 6:30 a.m. and returning home at 7:15 a.m.
“He was seen walking in the front door and lifting the blinds and opening the front bedroom window,” McKinnon said. “Yeager then came back outside and was seen standing in the front yard until deputies arrived.”
The confidential source also indicated there was no vehicle at Yeager’s house prior to his arrival home or when Yeager arrived home,” McKinnon said.
This is when things took the wrong turn for the fake bandit. Deputies confronted Yeager with these discrepancies and Yeager admitted he staged the home burglary to avoid having to go to work.
“He stated that his wife was adamant that he goes to work and he didn’t want to,” McKinnon said. “Yeager also said that he didn’t think he could go to jail for doing this.”
Charged with false information to law enforcement, Yeager was arrested and partially achieved his goal as instead of going to work he was taken to Orient Road Jail.
