Hoboken Man Claimed He Was Robbed, But Wasn’t, Police Say

HOBOKEN, NJ — Hoboken police charged a local man with making a false report to law enforcement after he claimed that two men grabbed him by the neck and stole his bicycle last month, authorities said.

According to the Hoboken Police Department, Angel Mendoza, 47, of Hoboken, filed a robbery report on Sept. 26. At that time, Mendoza told officers that two men approached him near the 9th Street light rail station, grabbed him by the neck and threw him off his bicycle.

Mendoza said that the two men then stole the bike, which belonged to his employer and was valued from $1,000 to $1,500, police stated.

However, Mendoza was “inconsistent in reporting the facts as he knew them,” which raised the suspicions of the officers. After reviewing video footage and other evidence, including a witness statement, Hoboken police later determined that he had filed a fake report, authorities said.

“At no time was there any evidence of the robbery that was reported or any other person in possession of the bike other than Mendoza,” a police spokesperson stated in a release.

Hoboken police subsequently charged Mendoza with filing a false report to law enforcement and theft. If found guilty of the two charges, he faces up to 6.5 years imprisonment and up to $25,000 in fines and restitution, authorities said.

“False reports of violent crimes create public panic, social media reactions that could be damaging to the city, and waste hours of law enforcement investigative resources trying to track incidents that never occurred,” Police Chief Kenneth Ferrante said.

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