Athens police fed up with fake crime reports

ATHENS - Athens-Clarke police are becoming more aggressive against the filing of false crime reports.

Athens-Clarke police Capt. Clarence Holeman said it's a growing problem and police are pursuing false claims until they have enough information to make an arrest.

Holeman said fake reports are ``tying up a lot of people's time, wasting a lot of money and equipment'' when police can be focusing on real crime.

A visiting soldier recently lied about being robbed in an alley and a man said a trio of masked robbers forced him to withdraw money from various ATMs and held him hostage in a crack house.

Police say the soldier lied to cover up spending his mother's tax return on a prostitute and the second man lied so his wife wouldn't know he'd spent their savings at a strip joint.