JPD: Greenville Man Called In False Report Of Assault, Robbery

charged a Greenville man with filing a false police report on March 23 after he claimed to have been assaulted and robbed in the parking lot of the Bank of America on Atwood Avenue around 1 p.m.

Deputy Chief David DeCesare, during a phone interview on March 24, said Joseph Garceau, 65, claimed a white man in a camouflage jacket had hit him with a blunt object and fled into the nearby bushes.

Garceau claimed that the man had taken about $700 in cash and checks of an undisclosed amount that were in a deposit bag, DeCesare said.

After canvassing the area and reviewing surveillance video from the bank, DeCesare said police determined that Garceau's story "was all fabricated."

DeCesare also explained that he wants to reassure residents and customers of the bank of the true nature of yesterday's events.

"It created such a spectacle in the middle of town, with all the police officers and cars near the bank, that everybody assumed the bank had been robbed," DeCesare said.

After his arrest, Garceau was issued a summons to appear in District Court on charges of filing a false report with police and obstructing a police investigation. DeCesare said Garceau has no prior criminal record.