Police: Suspect made false robbery call to thwart search
May 24—PITTSTON TWP. — A Scranton man allegedly made a bogus 911 call about a robbery in an attempt to distract police from searching for him Monday.
Derrick Anthony Jones, 39, of Vine Street, initiated the search after he fled the Knights Inn on state Route 315 where a woman reported she was beaten at about 12 p.m., according to court records.
When Jones was captured, Pittston Township police allege he was in possession of a fake identification card, $1,762 cash and three cellular phones. Jones was allegedly found concealing a loaded .22-caliber revolver and a bag containing a white rocky substance in his buttocks.
According to the criminal complaint:
Police responded to the motel on a report a woman was bloodied inside a room. Officers found the woman sitting in a bathroom behind a locked door.
She told police her boyfriend, Jones, entered the room and became angry when he could not find $3,000. She claimed Jones punched her in the face and body, and threw her onto the floor before she managed to lock herself in the bathroom, the complaint says.
As police searched the area for Jones, they were dispatched to Walmart on Route 315 for a 911 call reporting a robbery and a man with a gun in the parking lot before the caller hung up.
While police continued to search the area, Jones was detained near Route 315.
Jones allegedly identified himself using another name, the complaint says.
When police learned Jones' true identity, a records check showed he was wanted by the Monroe County Sheriff's Department on drunken driving charges.
Police searched Jones finding a fake identification card, cash, three cell phones, and the revolver and suspected narcotics concealed in his buttocks.
A flip phone Jones was carrying was used to call 911 to report the robbery at Walmart, the complaint says.
Jones, formerly of New York City, was arraigned on two counts each of possession of a controlled substance and possession of drug paraphernalia, and one count each of illegal possession of a firearm, firearms not to be carried without a license, false identification to police, false reports and harassment.
Court records say Jones pled guilty to a felony drug trafficking and firearm charge in Lackawanna County Court on Sept. 27. Sentencing information is not listed on court records from Lackawanna County.
