A Long Island man nearly pulled off a spectacular con last month by pretending to get hit by a car and demanding cash from the driver, prosecutors allege. Unfortunately, he took the scam a little too far and got the police involved, and now he's been arrested.
According to authorities, alleged sly fox/creative genius James Matthias, 50, was leaving an off-track betting establishment on New Year's Eve when he was "hit" by a driver backing out of the parking lot—really, though, police say Matthias simply walked into the car and fell down behind it.
Following the alleged feint faint, Matthias graciously offered to take cash to treat his fictitious injuries in exchange for not calling an ambulance, and the driver handed him some amount under $100. But it seems that incident wasn't enough acting practice for Matthias, now that he was going method. So he allegedly called 911, claimed he had been hurt in a hit-and-run crash and filed a police report.
But Matthias's thespian prowess only went so far, and officers eventually discovered his report was allegedly false; they arrested him yesterday and he is expected to be arraigned today. He's charged with falsely reporting an incident and making a false written statement.
