Man Falsely Reported Family's Kidnapping & Robbery: Danbury PD

DANBURY, CT — Turns out that dramatic story of a man and his family being kidnapped at gunpoint and forced to make a bank withdrawal was just that — a story, according to an update from police.

Danbury Police Department Detectives arrested Diego Vizhco, 38, on Wednesday, and he is accused of falsely reporting the made-up crimes from Sept. 10, according to a news release from police.

Vizhco originally told police that he and his family had been kidnapped at gunpoint in the parking lot of the Stop and Shop at 72 Newtown Road. He then told police that he was forced to drive to the Bank of America on Main Street, withdraw cash and then drive back to Newtown Road. The false victim described his assailant as "a Black man with a muscular build between the age of 30 and 40," police previously said.

After a thorough investigation, detectives determined that the robbery never occurred, according to Danbury Police Department spokesperson Erin Henry.

"While we are pleased that no robbery took place, we are saddened and disturbed that someone would make up such a story," said Police Chief Patrick Ridenhour. "False complaints like this cause fear in the community, and unnecessarily tie up valuable police resources. I commend our Detectives for their outstanding work on this case. While the public should always be vigilant, hopefully they will breathe a little easier knowing that there was no validity to this reported incident."

Vizhco turned himself in on an active arrest warrant. He is being charged with second-degree false incident report and is being held on a $10,000 court set bond.