Authorities said a 14-year-old boy who was reported to be asleep in the back seat of a car when it was stolen from a gas station in Fort Smith was never in the vehicle and was found safe with his father in Fayetteville.
Zachary Davis, 31, of Fort Smith told authorities Michael Brown was asleep in his 2005 maroon Chevrolet Malibu when it was stolen at 9:30 a.m. from the Sally Ann Market and Liquors at 421 N. Greenwood Ave. in Fort Smith, according to a news release from the city’s Police Department.
When Davis entered the store to pay for gas, a white male wearing a black T-shirt with the words "Skills Gone Viral” on it, drove away in the vehicle, the release states.
Fort Smith police spokesman Wendall Sampson said he did not know why Davis told officers his nephew was in the car. Sampson added that it's possible the 31-year-old wanted extra attention put on the effort to find his stolen car.
The claim prompted authorities to issue an Amber Alert, which was inactivated about noon, an hour after it was issued.
Davis was later arrested and charged with filing a false report. He was booked into the Sebastian County jail Friday afternoon.
As the thief fled south, he threw Davis' phone out the car's window, police wrote. Officers found it at the intersection of 16th and Jackson streets.
The Atkins Police Department latter arrested the suspected car thief, 26-year-old Eldon Burton, Sampson said.
In a separate statement, the Atkins agency said the stolen Malibu was located at a McDonald's off Interstate 40 shortly before 11:40 a.m. and that Burton was taken into custody without incident inside the restaurant.
"After further investigation it was learned that the reported missing male was never in the vehicle and was found to be safe," Atkins police wrote.
Burton was booked into the Pope County jail on a charge of felony theft by receiving.
