MAN ACCUSED OF CALLING IN FALSE CRIME TO GET OUT OF TRAFFIC TICKET

A Twentynine Palms man was arrested Saturday night, after he tried to make a false report of another crime. According to a Sheriff’s report, about 9:30 p.m., a deputy stopped a car driven by Sergio Alvarez, 34, near Homestead Drive and Lazy Joe Avenue, for a missing rear license plate. During the traffic stop, Alvarez allegedly called the Sheriff’s Dispatch phone number to report hearing shots fired, in the hopes that the deputy would be called away and wouldn’t give him a ticket. When the deputy confronted Alvarez, he denied making the call, but his phone started ringing when the deputy called the phone number that had appeared on dispatcher’s screen. Sergio Alvarez was arrested for investigation of making a false report, booked at the Morongo Basin Jail, where he was cited and released.