Man crashes truck, reports it as stolen

CARSON CITY, Mich. (WOOD) - A 21-year-old man was arrested for falsely reporting his stolen pickup truck, when actually he crashed and left it in a ditch.

The Montcalm County Sheriff's Office on July 29 began investigating a stolen vehicle report from S. West Street in Carson City.

Authorities were told the 2000 Ford pickup truck was stolen sometime after 3 p.m. July 28. The sheriff's office advised other police agencies to be-on-the-lookout for the truck.

A passerby reported on the morning of July 30 seeing a vehicle in the ditch in the 9000 block of S. Brown Road in Fairplains Township.

That vehicle was the same vehicle reported stolen. The truck was impounded and taken to the sheriff's office for processing.

Police re-interviewed the vehicle's owner -- Collin Barnes from Carson City -- who originally reported the vehicle being stolen to avoid being responsible for crashing it. Barnes later admitted crashing the truck.

Barnes was arrested on a felony charge of filing a false police report. He was arraigned and posted bond.